Between Worlds
by MintishBreeze
Summary: Fate keeps playing a nasty game with her head, making her fall from her own world into one which should only exist in stories. Panic strikes at first, but when she realises she could (and has to) take matters into her own hands, she's willing to do her best in order to change their future. Original Character
1. Chapter 1 - Dream

~Chapter 1~

Dream

 _~Her POV~_

I woke up.

…

…

That's it.

There was no immediate revelation and dreaming still seemed to be what was really happening to me at that moment. Realizing you're in a different room compared to the one you've fallen asleep in should raise questions in the head of any person, sane or not. I had my moments in both states. Couldn't truthfully say whether I was cuckoo or not, though. Well, if it really was one of my mighty sleep hallucinations, then it sure sucked. I've always like cool, but well-lit places, which that room was anything but. The air was hot and humid and the drawn curtains weren't doing that good of a job at anything, really. They kept the light out and the heat in, which was not on my check-list for a good environment on any day. There was sweat on my neck. Ugh, I really hated when that happened. Sweat on my exposed neck meant rivers of it on my back, which was pressed to a comfortable, but way too snug mattress. It was really strange. I had never sweat in any of my dreams.

I was still keeping my body in as numb a state as the one I had woken up in. Shifting was out of question at that moment. It didn't do good to move too much and realise that your physical sensations were a bit too intense for the REM stage.

 _'I guess practicing my prayer of vivid dreams before bed did do its' job…'_

I stretched an arm from beneath the blanket and already noticed that something was wrong. The dream was missing details. I knew most people didn't see it, but I'd always been convinced that the beauty marks on my forearms formed constellations. I used to trace the Big Dipper on the right one. I never got to draw the whole North Star scheme since the mole assigned for it didn't grow in the right position. I had to get a new mole for that now.

 _'Skip that, I have to get a whole new constellation.'_ My thought was as absurd as that dream seemed to be, since my right arm was as bare as a baby's butt after a good old bath. There was nothing on it.

I took out my other hand in hopes of poking the dream away, but surprise surprise, I didn't seem to have the fingers to do that.

…

Rectification. I had the fingers. The fisted appendix just led me to believe otherwise.

I got up slowly, the blanket falling off and letting my skin breathe and cool. My legs dangled off the edge of the bed at a length I was familiar with, so no big change in the height department. I touched the floor gently, satisfied with the chilly sensation creeping through my soles.

I had to congratulate my brain on finally getting the senses tuned right. The creaking floor, the shift in the air when I moved… They all made me really feel like a crazy woman all of a sudden.

 _'A dream is a wish your heart makes, huh? Well, Cinderella, you sure messed up that part…'_

The mirror over the sink was visible through the bathroom's open door, but it didn't reveal much. I had to walk all the way there, damn it!

I get up, ignoring the way my body felt a lot lighter than I remembered. I quickened my pace. I didn't want to ponder on reality too much.

The light in the bathroom now turned on, there was a mere step keeping me from finding out whether I had gone nuts or not. It was sure stressful. I tried convincing myself that sleep deprived people like myself could definitely experience such powerful hallucinations. When that went out the window, I tried reasoning with food poisoning, drugs, any other kind of poison that had been swiftly delivered to my system without it being brought to my awareness. Couldn't go farther, though. It was either some sort of sick game of fates mixed in or I was just completely insane, without any chance of being normal again.

''Here we go.''

I stepped in front of the mirror and stopped. Not because that was indeed my destination, but because my body had decided to block all processes that would have slowed me down in trying to understand the whole situation.

I wasn't a brunette. Not anymore, at least. The waves of bright, reddish hair that fell past my shoulders were unknown to me. The face that looked back was someone else's. It wasn't me. I took a step closer, trying to catch the final details of the illusion. My face was a tad bit longer now. My eyes were now a piercing black, not at all the gentle hazel I had been used to stare back at all my life. The freckles that donned the bridge of my nose went around the pale cheeks as well. The lips seemed fuller, the Cupid's bow, not as pronounced as before.

I reached to touch the glass before me. It seemed all quite real, yet I couldn't comprehend it just yet.

 _'Maybe if I pinch myself, it'll go away.'_ I may have said that to myself, but I couldn't dare touching my face.

 _'It would be all real then…'_

So I just waited around. I stared in the mirror for some time, studying what I believed to be my mind's creation. Being so aware of my surroundings, I tried modifying some of them since, truthfully speaking, the damn room was dreadfully decorated. I thought fleetingly of how much nicer the room would feel if the damn curtains were drawn, but I didn't even get to move before they were moving themselves, letting the sun in and my sanity out.

 _'Cool stuff! I can move things with my mind, hah!'_

I started throwing stuff around in my head, the supposed reality around me following suit. Every thought I wanted to implement immediately came true and that definitely did excite the dull mind of a person who was still innocently unaware of just how messed up her situation was.

After moving everything to my heart's content, I thought about totally redecorating the room.

'The colour of the walls is too dull,' I thought, and after conjuring up a more suitable nuance for the chamber, I started visualizing the paint peeling off the walls and disappearing into nothing. My surprise wasn't that great after my first supernatural experiences, so when the paint actually started bending my will, I immediately got to business and started painting the now bare walls in my own colour.

…

 _'The heck, why just one colour?'_

So I started drawing sceneries on them. The most beautiful sunsets and views I had ever seen got translated on brush movements on the concrete walls. I didn't notice it at first, since I was too engrossed in the whole thing happening in front of me, but the paint didn't really coming out of thin air. The swift tendrils that floated in the room were those of the paint that had been ripped off, now being transformed to my heart's content.

''Damn, could've just change the colour directly. It took me half an hour to rip the whole thing off first…''

After playing with my new powers again and again, I was finally sure that that was the best dream I had had in a while. Indeed, it was all a dream. A dream. A dream. It didn't take much will to step yet again in the front of the mirror and gaze at my current self.

I looked at my reflection with a critical eye.

 _'Hmm, I've always wanted blue hair to just grow out of my scalp. Let's see…'_

I thought up a whole cascading mane of azure to flow freely down my back….but nothing happened. The short tresses stayed the same, the colour didn't change. I tried forcing the thought onto myself. When that didn't work at first, I considered the possibility that maybe alive being were much more put together than paint on walls, so strength of will was all there really was to it, really.

I concentrated on the roots of my hairs, sketching the details in my head and moulding them with my imagination. They wouldn't budge. I clenched my teeth and glared at it. Nothing. I held my breath and tried focusing all my being on it. I was trembling already. My muscles were clenched tightly, the surging power making me feel light headed. I was on the brink of giving up when a painful headache just ripped through my skull. I screamed at the sudden sensation. The pain wasn't much as it went on, but the initial sensation made me aware of how a lightning would have felt like if it hit me in the skull.

The pain trip lasted little, but it was enough to bring me to my knees and make me feel nauseous at the slightest tilt. The laboured breathing didn't stop, though, since once the adrenaline died off, the fear kicked in wholeheartedly.

''It's just a dream, it's just a dream, don't get scared. I must have hit my head while asleep. I-I might've fallen out of bed, yeah!''. All I had to do now was wake up. I couldn't be there any longer -who knew how badly I must've hit my head.

''Okay. It's okay. Now let's just wake up,'' I muttered all assured, trying to pick myself up in the process. I leaned slightly on the side of the sink and stared at myself once more. A trembling hand reached up and pinched a sweaty cheek.

''Shit…It h-hurt.''

I pinched myself again, but nothing happened. I stretched the skin relentlessly, mauling it until purple started to tint the red splotching on the skin.

 _'No. Just...no.'_

I backed away from the sink, hitting the wall behind me.

''I have to get out of here.''

 _'But where to…?'_

I scrambled to the bedroom and turned around frenetically, searching for an exit. The first closed door I found was forced open to reveal a long hallway.

'Too long,' I thought, and ran ahead. I didn't even register whatever I passed by, be it beings or not. I just ran ahead. Of course, when the hall suddenly turned left, I followed the route religiously enough to end up at the entrance. It seemed to be some sort of inn I was in, but I couldn't give a damn. I ran towards the door and just the thought of it being wide open made it so. The screams from behind me might have stopped me in my tracks, had I been in my right mind. Nooooo such thing, though.

The unpaved street seemed a bit odd to me even in my crazed state, but I was silently thankful for it since I was running at full speed bare-footed. The fatigue didn't stop me, the people didn't stop me; the unknown location didn't stop me either.

I wanted to be awake again.

I couldn't, though. I couldn't.

* * *

He saw her running like a mad woman up to the end of the street. She was a wicked one, really. One needed a lot of courage to run at full speed clad in just a shirt.

''Look at her go,'' his companion mutter from across the table, his eyes still searching for the girl that was now lost in the crowd.

He sipped at his drink with a little more pathos this time round. She was either an escapee from the mental institution down the road or-

'' She looked like she was running away from something.''

''Huh... A much healthier alternative to our own methods then,'' his friend said grimly, eyeing the piling bottles of booze on the table. Not that it made much of a difference how much they drank. Both their minds remained as clear and as focused on past events as before.

He looked at his soon-to-be empty glass and twirled around the throat-burning liquid inside it.

''I could ask Inoichi for a favour,'' the bearded man said quietly, glancing at the expression on the blonde's face. The former just smiled a tad, enough to push back a sudden painful reminder, and looked up.

''That'd be quite the gamble, though,'' the man continued. ''Who knows what else he might erase by sweeping up the bulk-''.

''It's okay, Shikaku-san,'' interrupted the blonde. ''It's happened one too many times already for me to feel anything anymore.''

The corners of Shikaku's lips only dipped further, him taking in the perfect, smooth mask that his friend was donning. There wasn't a flaw in his countenance and yet that in itself was the major flaw. He was more guarded than ever and that screamed of him feeling much more than he would ever let on. He was afraid of feeling it and rightly so.

His brilliant mind couldn't come up with anything to soothe his friend in any way, so he did the only thing he'd been doing for the past few hours – he took to bottle and filled his glass again, hoping it'll at least make him stop thinking for a while about it. Alcohol was an undeniable friend in moments like these.

Few quiet moments passed between them before something else in the street caught their attention. Several shadows flew above the roofs on the other side of the street, the metal of their headbands glinting in the blazing sun. One of them skidded to a halt at the entrance of the bar, making them cling their glasses on the table.

''Intruder spotted two miles from here. It's supposedly just a civilian running amok, but they can't seem to catch her,'' said the disgruntled Chunnin, who was now giving subtle hints at them possibly being needed.

''A civilian, you say? What about the police?'' Shikaku inquired.

''That's the problem. They tried stopping her after she went straight to the businesses of some vendors, but she got away in a heartbeat. Freaking Sharingan-bearers couldn't get a hold of her.''

The blonde's eyebrows were now up to his hairline. It was no daily occurrence for someone to escape Konoha's Police Force so easily, someone lacking chakra nonetheless.

''…Wait, 'supposedly a civilian'? What do you mean?''

''Well, they couldn't sense or see any chakra from her, but…stuff keeps happening around her to help her escape. Up till now, two officers have been taken out by bricks flying out of nowhere and several others had to make detours after getting to dead ends.''

''…In a village that they know like the back of their hand… Sounds fun!'' the blonde said, smiling brightly and getting up for a stretch. ''Lead the way, then.''

* * *

Her feet were now leaving bloody marks on the dirt underneath. She was tired, so beyond tired that she couldn't even think of the reason she was doing it in the first place. After some darkly-clad people have tried to stop her in her chase after sanity, she timely considered them unknown enemies and did everything in her (newly found) power to lose them.

She was now limping near a river, a sudden urge of dipping her feet in the water taking over her. She looked behind her. The path looked clear, but she knew those sneaky asses could come after her at any time.

Truthfully speaking, she couldn't care less. A mental breakdown isn't always followed by rational, well-thought decisions, so she didn't ponder on it. She stepped on her wounded soles with care and crossed the bank of the river, stopping mere inches before the cool, inviting waters. Sitting down, she realised just how done she was with it all. One isn't supposed to feel pain the way she was feeling at the time. The sweat flowing freely on her heated skin seemed as real as it could get; the ache in her now sore muscles made itself known in a way too realistic manner. It couldn't be real. It couldn't.

 _'Okay, let's just see where we stand. I wake up in an entirely unknown place. Issue number one right there. That means I might've passed out before and someone carried me there or I was kidnapped or…oh, yeah, I might have amnesia… Yet the latter is out of the question since I can remember who I am. Actually scratch all of those. I clearly remember going to sleep in my own cosy room before this whole shebang.'_

She dipped her legs in the water.

 _'Next issue – the actual unknown place. I feel like I've gone back several centuries. So I'm either on a freaking film set, with everyone mocking at me, or I'm just… I might be…'_.

She stretched her legs fully, relishing in the sensation of her poor knees finally getting a rest.

''I have no idea where I am,'' she mumbled quietly, laying down on the grass and catching her breath.

She stared at the canopy above her. It was so quiet there. She was all alone…

''We had no idea where you were either,'' a sudden voice spoke from next to her, making her screech loudly and jump to her feet. Her try at getting away from her intruder didn't go as planned, since as soon as the rocks on the bottom of the river dug in her soles, her legs buckled weakly, sending her whole body in the water with a splash.

Her show seemed to greatly entertain her mystery companion. His laughter was hearty and carefree, the total opposite of what she was feeling at that moment.

''Wh-who are you?''. Her eyes were wide and on the brink of tears. She couldn't handle this world at all.

''I should be asking you that question, but I doubt I'd get an answer,'' the man said, amusement dancing in his eyes. ''Do share the reason as to why you're wreaking havoc in the village, though. That is, unless you want the police to come ask you the same question in an entirely different manner.''

She looked at him for a long time, studying his face, his stance, his mannerisms. At first glance, he seemed as honest a human can be, toppled with a whole goody-two-shoes act.

 _'It's definitely an act, though. He wouldn't have sneaked so silently if he wasn't trying to catch me off-guard...Which he did.'_

''I-I..''. _'Oh God, why am I so eloquent all of a sudden?'_ she thought bitterly, swallowing the knot that was slowly forming in her throat.

''I…Where am I?'' she asked in the end, hopelessness tinging the tone of her voice.

The blonde scrunched his nose, displeased with her answer.

''That's not the right answer,'' he said, and before she could even react, he disappeared from her view, a sharp pain at the base of her neck announcing her future state of unconsciousness.

He caught her before she got the chance to get another dip in the cold waters of the river. Freeing one of his hands, he made a Shadow Clone, the new appearance immediately taking the gal from his arms.

''Take her to the hospital. Be sure to write her off as type D in custody.''

He then remembered how hard it'd been for everyone to find her or even keep hold of her.

''…Actually, make it a type C. We don't want this one getting away that easily.''

The clone ran off as soon as the instructions were received, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

''Better report this to the Hokage then,'' he sighted, making a hand sign and disappearing from view.

* * *

Waking up was a pain in the ass. Damn, actually, it was a pain everywhere. Her limbs ached, her back ached, her head ached.

 _'My mind's aching,'_ she thought, eyes still closed to appear as unconscious as she'd been few moments before. Didn't work, though.

''She's awake,'' someone said in a rushed voice beside her, a chair screeching on a hard-sounding floor.

''Get her up,'' another one answered, this one, of an entirely different timbre, coming from the back of the room.

She felt hands griping gently, but firmly, at her arms, making her get up against her wishes. Her eyes opened slightly, but closing them was the next option, since the white light of the room was blinding enough for her sleepy eyes.

She felt the strong grip going down to her wrists and moving them towards the edge of the bed. The click that followed rang ominously in the room.

That opened her eyes for good.

''Wha-what are you doing?! Get them off! '', she screamed in panic, tugging at her newly bounded limbs. It was useless, though.

''You will be doing good to calm yourself, young lady,'' the man before her said, authority pouring out of his every pore. ''You have no right to make requests at the moment. In this place, you have no right, not even the one to move. Am I clear?''.

His words froze me in place, clearing my head in an instant.

 _'Oh God, I'm doomed.'_

''It has come to my notice that you've been causing trouble around the central area. So much, in fact, that not even the police could stop you in your doings.''. The man took a step closer to her. "Now would be a good time to explain why you, a civilian, one not even registered in any of the documents concerning the ones that have entered the village for the past decade," he said pointedly, "was trying so hard to get rid of authorities as soon as they arrived."

The silence that followed was thick enough to cut. She couldn't move her gaze away from him, he wouldn't from her.

This was not a dream anymore. There was too much to it. Never had she ever felt so frightened at the mere sight of a man, one who wasn't even moving any muscle nonetheless.

She was screwed. Whatever this whole fiasco was about, she knew she was utterly screwed, and she didn't even know the reason to it. She couldn't wing this one. No one could. The man in front of her screamed of too much experience in dealing with annoying little beings like her to be fooled by spilled words, and he definitely didn't seem to have much patience to deal with her much longer.

Sweat was yet again starting to give a shine to her skin; only this time, it was as cold as ice. She didn't want to be there. She didn't know how she was there in the first place, for God's sake!

She felt some sort of rage budding inside of her. This whole thing couldn't be more infuriating. She didn't care anymore.

 _'Fuck it.'_

Right before she was about to blow the whole thing up just for the sake of doing it, the door to the room opened, letting in other dream-like entities.

"Oh, dear Kami, Danzo. You scared the wits out of her," the older man muttered, the lines around his eyes accentuated by his discontent. He stepped close to the side of her bed, behind him trailing the same blonde who brought her in this predicament in the first place.

"YOU!" she screamed angrily, yet again tugging at her biddings to reach her new-found enemy.

"Now, now. Calm down, miss." The old man said gently. "He was only doing his duty as a shinobi of this village. I hope you do understand that your…situation called for it."

His whole demeanour remained the same throughout her thoughtless fit. After a few moments of silence, he pulled the chair next to her bed and sat on it comfortably.

"Now, please do me the honour and explain as best as you can the reason behind the ruckus from this morning. I have to tell you that you did, indeed, take us by surprise with it."

At his question, she shut her mouth, setting her lips in a thin line.

 _'If only I knew…'_

"I can't help you," I said honestly. "I just...woke up here. I have no idea where I am, when in time I am or who you are. I have no memory of travelling here or even going to that damn inn I woke up in. I know nothing," she said, tears already forming to spill on her cheeks.

The three men stood and watched her in silence, all with some sort of troubled expressions on their faces. Well, two of them, at least, since Mister Scare-You-Shitless was his usual intensely-impassive self.

After a pause, the old man got up and went towards the door.

"Call Inoichi-san," he ordered quietly. It was definitely an order, since, as soon as the words rang, the blonde straightened his stance and nodded in understanding.

The two existed what seemed to be the hospital room, leaving the third yet again alone with her.

She didn't look at him. She'd had enough of his psycho antics for a day.

He didn't move from his position for several minutes, his gaze still set on her in a way that reminded her of the way wolves look at their pray before biting their throats.

The tension in the air was thickening by the minute, but it didn't last long since the door opened once more to reveal another blonde man, but with a different appearance.

The slight smile on his lips must have been placed there in order to ease her fear a tad, but it wasn't doing anything in that direction, really. She was, actually, even more sceptical of him as soon as she saw his eyes. They were endless pits of blue; endless, dangerous pits out of which you would never get out once you got lost in them. He seemed human as a whole, but his eyes looked like they were telling a different story.

"Hello, miss. I am Yamanaka Inoichi. I have been sent to talk to you for a while regarding what you've recently been through," he said, stepping closer to her as he spoke. His voice was comforting in a practiced manner. Her body wanted to relax in his presence, but her mind reeled at the thought of him getting even a step closer. He looked dangerous.

"What I'm about to do might seem a bit intrusive, but please trust me that it'll give you no harm," he muttered, his hands touching her head, the motion triggering an unspeakable pain in her head.

 _'No harm, he said? Bullshit!'_

 _'Sorry,'_ a voice answered inside her head. _'It won't take long.'_

It felt awful. It was like a worm was wiggling his way through her brain, munching at her memories and thoughts. She wasn't having it. She was having nothing of that.

Her will was stronger than ever when she thought of the little worm being forcefully pushed out of her skull. She could have easily pulverized him, but she didn't want any remains in her already scattered mind.

Her forceful screams were now mending with his. He was being pushed out. He'd barely managed to catch a glimpse of whatever her mind had stored, but an unknown force was grabbing at his own conscience like it was nothing. He didn't feel in control anymore. The roles had somehow, somewhat been reversed and the pain was unbearable. It reminded him of the time he when was still training his technique, when his own mind was being moulded by someone else's will.

"Get out!" she screamed again and they both fell unconscious.

* * *

There was a breach in security and that thought didn't sit well with him. A girl, with no chakra to speak of, with no visibly special abilities to begin with, has managed to make a sudden appearance in the middle of the village and no one had known about it until she herself had made it known.

It wasn't a desirable situation. Not at all. She didn't seem to want to cooperate and there was so much he could do before Danzo stepped in and took matters into his own hands. That man despised not being in control. That in itself was, in the end, the reason as to why he never did acquire the position of Hokage. He seemed to be a bit too unforgiving with anything that got in his way.

The old man scratched at his whitening goatee, thinking over the happenings during the day.

 _'I truly hope she's not an enemy. We can't handle more of those at this time…If she is, then we'll just have to-'._

His thoughts were grossly interrupted by the abrupt entrance of one of his subordinates, his unruly visage worrying him already.

"Hokage-sama, Inoichi-san is unconscious!"

"What do you mean?".

"The girl… She did something or the whole thing has gone wrong and now they're both unconscious. They've tried waking them up, but they're unresponsive."

The Lord's lips set in a grim line. That wasn't normal. Not at all…

"Call Tsunade. I want her to look over it."

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama, sir? B-but it's her off day today."

Everybody knew of Tsunade's off day. It was the exact day of the week during which every casino and every ninja who played with the Slug Princess won substantially more yen than in the other days of the week. It also happened to be the day during which no one came close to her after she lost, since her temper wasn't known for sweet appearances.

"No matter. This could be more serious than we first thought."

"…Yes, sir.", the Chunnin said, closing the door behind him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a man with decades of experience in his field and one would think that that would be enough to keep him calm and restful at nights. How wrong that truly was, though. No matter how many wars he'd been through, there were always new minds amongst the enemies that came up with unexpected strategies, in hopes of destabilising his nation.

 _'Of course, if she does end up being on their side, she was definitely poorly chosen.'_

It really couldn't be that Iwa would waste such a trump card as to being able to appear in the middle of their village without taking full advantage of it. Breaking a few stand and knocking out two officers wasn't as exponential a damage as he would have expected from someone truly set against him.

The girl herself didn't seem to be a ninja either. Her movements, although sharp, were too sluggish for someone above Gennin. Her chakra was just not present, like in any other civilian and she wore her heart on her plate. You could see every bit of emotion dancing in her eyes or pooling at the corners of her mouth. She was no danger. She couldn't be. She was just a mere-

Yet again his thoughts got interrupted; only this time, the countenance of the messenger was much more dishevelled than before.

"The girl, sir! She's…She's disappeared!"

"What? You lost her?", he said, stupefied at the mere notion.

"No, sir, she was right before us when she just disappeared into thin air. She wasn't conscious either."

 _'A reverse summon maybe…'_

He sparked a bit of chakra on some characters written under his desk. At his call, the blonde man made his appearance in the middle of the room.

"Minato-kun, did you notice any seal on her?".

"No, sir. Not even the Uchiha could see any trace of chakra on her being."

"Was any felt when she disappeared?".

Minato stood silent before him, a troubled expression on his face.

"..No, sir. There was no chakra output at her disappearance. It was like she was never there to begin with."

The three of them stayed silent for a long time afterwards. They might have even found an answer to the whole issue if they had met the situation before… But it was unheard of. Chakra was, indeed, an amazing thing, but it did exist. People could feel it, whatever its' manifestation was.

"How is Inoichi-san?".

"Still unconscious, sir. Tsunade-sama can't seem to wake him up from it. She finds it to be very similar to how Tsukuyomi victims respond after the jutsu."

 _'Oh'._

"Have you put your own seal on her? Can you track her?"

"…I have put one on her, sir, but I am unable to find her. She is either out of my range or…".

"I see… Call Danzo. I want the security to be tightened around the border. I also need all teams of chakra sensors to check the perimeter of where she was last seen. Make it so that you and Jiraya make additional tags and seal for keeping count of chakra presences in the village."

"Yes, sir.", Minato said, turning around and getting out of the office.

 _'We'll find you, little girl. Don't worry. We'll find you.'_

* * *

I know I should've put the disclaimer first, but I couldn't be bothered. So, I don't own anything around here, except my own dear OC and whatever she messes up in the timeline. Please review and I hope you liked it!


	2. Chapter 2 - Fate And What Not

Chapter 2

~Fate and what not~

She woke up.

…

…

Again.

She was really starting to hate the whole process. Who knew what was expecting her behind closed eyelids?

What she felt didn't give any indication as to where she was. Literally, nothing was there. There was no solid surface underneath her. She didn't even know whether she was lying down or not.

' _I'm definitely cuckoo now,'_ she said, disheartened.

"Wake up, now. Don't just lie limp like a noodle."

' _Ah, so I am lying down. The noodle part was unnecessary, though.'_

She opened one eye, just to test the waters. White. Cool nuance. The only problem was that the damn non-color was all she was seeing.

"Shit, I'm in some weird-ish place again, aren't I?" she said, staring around. There was nothing to stare at, really, except for three figures before her that stood clad in horrendously old-fashioned clothes.

' _I mean, sure, they're classy; but they definitely lost the practicality along the way.'_

She examined with keen eyes the golden broidery that spread elegantly on silk of all colors and of all lengths. There were some ends twisted complicatedly after having ended at the waist, then there were others that trailed to their feet, circling them and making them appear to do what a cat does with its tail. All three were almost statuesque in their appearance and, distracted by it, she almost forgot about the fact that she wasn't supposed to see them at all.

"Look there," she said, clearing her throat, "I know I am very gullible at times and I've proven it on numerous occasions in real life but this isn't that, so you can stop messing with my head. If you're some sick hallucination, yet again, made by my wonderful mind, then I demand an explanation from said mind. Yeah, that's right, I'm asking my own brain what the heck is going on, it's that bad. If that's not the case, though, then please, proceed with your own explanation. I give you…" she paused, pondering a bit, "five minutes before I freak out and melt into a worthless puddle of goo."

Of course, the silence that followed was shorter than the three had previously planned it to be. Her threats did seem to work when she was that desperate for it to get real again.

"This is all real, miss," one of them started, "at least in this universe it is."

The one in the front then made a large movement with his hand, making the scenery change in its entirety. Now they were in a lovely garden, right next to a table with four chairs, placed under a willow tree.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?" she asked, revolted at having been deprived of such a beautiful scene. The comment was muttered under her breath, but god ears were just that. God ears.

"You would have thought it to be your world then," one of them answered. " Would have made the whole convincing-you part a whole lot more difficult, don't you think?".

"…Good point. Don't stall now. You have four minutes left."

"Oh, right," the one on the left said. "Well, your presence here is due to us calling your soul from the world you're originally from. The reason to that isn't exactly related to you, but more to your past."

Her lips thinned and her eyebrows seemed to want to go way past her hairline. A side glance indicated a great deal of doubt regarding how much she believed out of the whole ordeal.

"…Okay?".

"You see, we created this universe by taking into consideration certain parameters, so that nothing major can disturb its equilibrium. We've evenly distributed energy amongst the worlds and made sure that that energy never disappears, that it only transforms."

"What we didn't expect," started another, "was for someone else to intervene and change that aspect radically. Suddenly, a whole new world was created under our eyes, one that crassly denied our rules of existence."

The gods' bodies, similar to the ones humans had, displayed the same signs as telltale for what their thoughts were. They were either sincere in their telling, or they just emulated body language to a level she could only hope to achieve.

' _Oops, got sidetracked again.'_

"Why didn't you just eliminate the risk then? You're gods, I'm sure you could've handled it just fine," she said, suddenly dumbstruck at what she was hearing.

' _I can't believe I'm having a casual conversation with gods about what they can and cannot do. Pff, talk about chances in life.'_

"Unbeknownst to humans, even gods have to abide certain rules," one of them said, a soft smile plastered on his lips… Or her lips, she couldn't really tell. "One of them is that we cannot directly influence the world of another god."

At first, she was confused as to how this was all related, but understanding dawned all of a sudden.

"…You mean that world that broke your rules was made by another god? In your universe?".

"Exactly. It isn't often that that happens, but there have been stories of worlds suddenly appearing in other gods' universes as well. Unfortunately, we're not the only one facing change."

"But that just contradicts the law in itself! The god that created that world in the first place broke the law. Why can that one get away with it and you can't?… And what do I have to do with all of this?".

"Ah, don't rush, since you have everything to do with this. The god that has changed the balance in our universe was part of your world. He was one of your kin, a mortal. He wasn't a god in his own world, thus he wasn't obliged to obey our rules."

This was definitely not where she was expecting this discussion to go. She leaned back, her body now limp.

"…Well, that's really shitty for you, isn't it? No wonder there are so many universes that have problems with this. That's a whole…hole in that law of yours, making room for tons of exceptions. Can't you just change it?"

"Unfortunately, we cannot. We barely managed to meet once. Imagine gathering all gods all over again for something that concerns only a minority of us. It would be dreadful."

' _That sounds familiar somehow…'_

"What about the god of my world? Isn't he really the one who broke the law? I mean, that man was his creation, thus he indirectly influenced yours through him."

"It doesn't work that way, no matter how logical it may seem. Rational beings are considered individuals of their own. Gods do not have a say in their decisions after their birth, hence their lack of involvement in the results of those rational beings' actions."

' _Damn. This is big. Wait for the Pope to hear this.'_

"It doesn't happen often, though. The human kind is a bit special in that sense, compared to other kinds of intelligent beings. The one responsible for this seemed to have a special power even amongst your people: he was able to create worlds by merely coming up with the laws surrounding them and putting them into words."

"…A writer, you mean? A writer did a god-like thing in your universe?".

"That is, I believe, what you call them, indeed. Dangerous beings, truly. We've even heard of them breaking something called the 'fourth wall'. Just the sound of it is terrifying…".

Her face was blank for few more seconds before she burst out laughing. Who knew gods could be so damn innocent?

"By the time we had managed to track the right world in which he resided," another god continued on, vexed at how easily she laughed at such horrendous scenario," he had already passed away, like all mortals do."

"Fortunately for us, his soul has reincarnated," the one in the middle said smilingly. "into you."

She wasn't laughing anymore.

'… _.Well, shit.'_

"R-r-r-reincarnated?".

"Yes. His soul was the one that had the power to pass through space and time and plant its concoctions here. Of course, the soul which is part of you now is greatly diluted compared to the original, mainly due to the process of reincarnation in itself."

...

Oh, she needed time to process that. She got out of the chair, sat on the grass beside it and started pulling at it while in deep thought.

' _More like in deep shit.'_

"Soooo," she exclaimed, prolonging the moment to get a final grasp on the idea, "you've somehow called my soul into this world to solve the energetic imbalance?"

"Mhm," they said, smiling gracefully at her.

Her face froze and the finger, that she had been pointing sideways before to accentuate her words, dropped meekly. She was suddenly feeling like a misplaced climate change solution.

' _Get a windmill or something, dammit!'_

The idea was ridiculous and truly unheard of. Well, most of the stuff she was hearing was unheard of.

"Huh, and you actually expect me to have any idea what to do about that?".

"…What do you mean?" they asked worriedly.

They actually looked confused at what she implied. It didn't seem like she was the one that dropped from the moon, with no idea where she landed.

' _Oh, you have to be kidding.'_

"Hold up, time out. We have to make some things clear around here," she said decidedly. Her pointed stare made it look like she was about to share precious information with them, and it was, really, very precious information.

"I have not the slightest idea what you are talking about."

Their faces dropped.

"You expect me to fix a world that is…leaking energy to your own precious universe, by undoing what another person has done, a person I have no knowledge of and no connection with except for a damn soul. These things need to be properly organized, people! " she said, the volume of her voice escalating as she went on with her rant.

They stared at her in shock.

"…or gods," she muttered, incapable of comprehending the situation.

They all stood in silence.

It was getting absurd. That day had started with what she had thought to be the most shocking thing that had happened or would have happened in her life. How wrong she was.

"Why the heck did you do this now?" she asked, rubbing at her face in exasperation. "Why, why didn't you just tell me all about it first, huh? Why did you have to throw me head first in that place without even warning me that "Hey, you're about to change universes. Don't forget your keys!" or something? ".

"There wasn't any time left," one of them sighed. "We've managed to create a time-loop in that world, enough to get it back to when the whole imbalance initially began. The time at which you've arrived is right before the events that triggered it all are about to happen."

It seemed to her that they didn't have the situation under control, as it would have been expected of gods. They were either unaware of how humans worked, or they just went along with it without thinking the consequences.

"How do you know that my arrival hasn't already triggered it, hmm?" she said loudly, already angry at their rushed actions. "They tried to enter my freaking mind, thinking I was an enemy or traitor or something. They're bursting with distrust there, and who knows what bulb my sudden appearance (and disappearance, now that I realize) might have turned on in their heads!".

"Your appearance has actually stopped them in their tracks. They were planning on making a risky move that would have been the very first event to be taken care of, but now they've become cautious, anxious even. They'll think everything through from now on."

She had been out of her chair for a while now. She was pacing furiously around the garden, conscious, though, not to step on the flowers.

' _Oh, who cares! They're not even real!'_ she thought, stomping in place.

"What. Events? You keep speaking of them like they're some general knowledge everyone has. Tricky news, though. I'm as uncultured about this world as a newborn. Heck, at least their instincts are attuned with it. I know nothing about this! I'm like a freaking cow at a congress," she said, spilling the words like rapid fire.

The gods shared unknowing looks between them. Human speech was a real challenge for them at times.

"You know, a cow at a congress?" she said, seeing their confused expressions. "It has no business there and any opinion it might have is a…'moo' point, I may say."

"…Anyway," one of them said, moving on swiftly," this can all be fixed."

All three then started drawing signs in the air, flashed of light appearing as they traced ancient symbols of some sort.

"Wait," a god said, stopping in his tracks. "Should we show her from the creation of it, or just the main events?".

"What, no!" she protested loudly." You can't just show me the good bits. They won't be as good then. "

' _I've gone completely nuts, haven't I?'_

"Fair enough," and they showed her.

They transported her to the actual scene where it all took place, making it so that she could see the happenings as a bystander. There were times when the battles in front of her were so nerve wrecking that she dodged whenever something flew her direction, even though it was all an illusion.

' _Damn illusions. They're everywhere nowadays.'_

It was like watching one continuous movie, spanning over centuries and tons of generations. She saw the sons of sons fighting the same battle decades away, yet none of them winning. She saw the swollen eyes of widows and the hollow visage of the soldiers, and she couldn't help but finally comprehend how serious it all was. It wasn't a game. There were thousands of lives at stake there and, somehow, she had been chosen to care for each and every one of them. All of it was on a whole nother scale then what those unknowing gods had explained. The ones that were to die were humans as well. It was all a bit too close to home for her to handle it well.

When the last hope of that world had fallen, they returned to the quiet garden, its beauty greatly contrasting to the gore and horror on the battle field.

' _How ironic…'_

"So you want me to stop a war?" she asked, voice void of any inflexion.

"…Not necessarily," they answered honestly. "All you have to do is stop them from making Kaguya resurface. Such massive energy conglomerated all of a sudden had almost brought to ruin our whole universe the last time it happened."

Noticing her scrunched nose, they continued explaining.

"That energy, chakra, as they call it, was evenly distributed between the people before. Although there was a modicum of imbalance produced by each individual, it was insignificant, compared to all of them amassed."

"Why do you want to stop her from appearing again? Why can't you just stop her from appearing all together?".

The gods went back to the chairs around the table. Guess they had some more explaining to do.

"She was what we call a 'borrowed' demi god. The human that created your world has unknowingly summoned her to this one and given her an offer she could not have refused. She was suddenly a god, whereas in the realm where she came from, she was a mere demigod with a numerous family."

Her hands were now covering her face, fingers pulling at the roots of her hair.

"Ugh, why can't you form the loop before the contract was signed then?".

"Ah, well, that's exactly the problem. The contract. It cannot be annulled unless both parties agree to it. Since one of the parties is dead and the other is unwilling, the agreement still stands, no matter the time and space."

"…This is a lot more complicated than what I imagined," she said, collapsing in the chair.

"Yeah, it took some time for us to sort through this as well…"

They stood in silence once again, although it did nothing to the storm that had taken over her thoughts. Her brain felt like it was about to implode from the overload of information, but she had to pull through.

' _Okay, okay. Let's just look at it from an overall point of view. What do they want for me to learn from that?'_

She fixed her stare on all three of them, trying to recall their urgency in reestablishing the equilibrium and what might have caused it in the first place.

"So I have to stop the disturbance produced by her reappearance in this world."

"Exactly."

' _That's not enough.'_

"How, though? Have you seen how those people fight? I have no such experience! I don't even have the po-… Oh. The powers," she muttered, pausing in her tracks. "That's what they're for, aren't they?"

All those things that had seemed like a dream in the very beginning made a lot more sense all of a sudden.

"Well, we didn't give them to you, per se. Do remember the fact that your soul has belonged to the one that created this world. Due to the transcending of the soul and back, much of its power has been lost, but you still do hold some control over it. We do not know the whole extent to which the reincarnation has affected your supposed abilities, though. That is only for you to discover."

' _Already done a bit of trial and error with that one, that's for sure.'_

"That still doesn't ensure my success in changing anything, really. I might worsen it by trying to change their fate. Sure, my soul created that fate in the first place, but I won't be making decisions with my soul and heart. I'm as human as they are and I definitely have no knowledge of politics, manipulation, war strategies or whatever their fate could be influenced by. How? Just…how?".

She didn't know what to do. At first, she was just going to run away from it all, but she had an inkling she couldn't do that anyway.

Gosh, she felt so lacking. It was like real life all over again, with her body image issues an-

"Wait, what about my body? Why did you change it?".

"Well, we could only extract your soul from your world. As I said, we are not allowed to influence other gods' universes, and your disappearance would have done just that. We had to resort to transplanting your soul into an already existent body from this world."

"…What happened to her soul, though?" she asked, pointing at her newly acquired body. A shiver ran down her spine, guessing what their answer might be.

"She was soulless. She had passed on, as you, humans, name it."

She cringed.

"I'm in a dead girl's body?!"

"No no, the transfer was made the moment her soul left her body. We deemed her body the right one for your needs: healthy, young, and, most importantly, unknown to others. A dead soldier might have also been an option, to heighten your chances somehow, but you could have easily been identified. Being inconspicuous is a gift in this world, indeed."

Her body was itching all over the place. While twitching relentlessly, she pondered on the facts once more.

' _Something's missing, though.'_

"What happened to my original body then?..."

"Oh, don't worry. You're…asleep there. Or in a similar condition," the one directly in front of her said, smiling brightly.

…

"What?! I'm just going to be asleep for who knows how many years this is going to take?"

"Again, do not worry. The time loop that was created here makes it so that your soul has travelled to a time before your existence in the other. Frankly, you could live in this world for hundreds of years without missing for even a second in the other. Only when the moments in time will once again overlap will you be dead in your own world."

"How reassuring," she deadpanned.

"It really is! If we are to take into account the time it takes for the events to span out, add the rest of the writer's life and the duration of your soul's travels, we get almost four hundred years."

"Add twenty years as well. Gotta' take into account my own little journey through life as well, right?" she said in a bored voice.

"Indeed, young lady."

She sighed once again, propping her elbow on the table and leaning in it tiredly. There seemed to be no end it. She now felt capable of doing anything, just to end the whole ordeal.

' _Ugh, this it then, isn't it?'_

A sudden thought struck her.

"What if I don't succeed? What happens then?".

"…You'll start over," they said, reticently.

'… _Sure thing.'_

"You're just gonna keep dropping bombs on me, aren't you? Hah, can't believe I felt assured by those four hundred years! It might take millennia before I'm even moving in the right direction."

"Please, do trust in yourself more, young lady," one said, the lips forming a grim line. "If you find that to be difficult, then please trust the decision of gods. We wouldn't have chosen you if we didn't deem you worth the effort and wait."

' _Way to go with your encouraging. Sure worked on me.'_

She was getting sour. Her patience was wearing thin and there truly wasn't much left of it.

"I could just say no, you know? Whatever the ex-owner of my soul has done, I have nothing to do with it, truthfully speaking. You yourself said that humans are considered individuals and that their decisions belong to themselves. I don't see why I should be constrained to remain here and go through all you've just showed me I'm supposed to go through."

' _Of course, not like I know how to get out of here…'_

She looked at the gods in front of her, but suddenly wished she hadn't. They looked smug with whatever they were about to share and she was more than sure she wasn't going to like it one bit.

"Well, humans have found a way around our law to defy it so effortlessly, but they weren't the only ones; we've also found a way to work with it in order to get back at your own god for his preposterous decision to give humans free will. He is now under the obligation to provide us your soul for the duration of the procedure - an indirect way of taking responsibility for his indirect way changing our universe."

"So even the god of my own world is against me," she said, getting depressed.

Her head was now on her forearms, hiding her face from the gods' view. She had thought that closing her eyes might clear her mind at least a tad bit, but there was no turning back to her ever feeling at ease. She was never going to feel safe again, was she? If your whole life could be turned upside down by events you couldn't even expect to happen, then she was bound to a life of paranoia, really.

' _Who knows what other worlds he's created? I'm never going to feel at peace ever again, I can feel. Actually, that is all I can feel right now. Fear. I feel it seeping in my skin and clogging my throat and my lungs. It's hard to breathe when you're scared.'_ Now she knew why all those people just gasped and breathed heavily after experiencing a life endangering situation.

She pressed her forehead deeper in the skin of her arm.

"Ugh, my head hurts."

She lifted it to rub at its sides, throwing a glance at her companions in the meantime. The hopeful expressions on their face did nothing to soothe her nerves. Of course they'd put their hopes in her, she was their only option. It was either she took action and solved the problem, or they'd be required to wait for the soul's next reincarnation to do the job.

That didn't sit well with her: ruin another person's life, just because you were too much of a coward to face it properly.

She lifted her gaze to theirs'.

"Just…give me some time."

She then stood up and started walking on the paths of the garden. Nature had always been some sort of catharsis for peace to enter her mind and body. There was nothing really quite like it.

…Well, maybe food.

Yeah, food was good.

' _Damn, now I'm hungry.'_

She kicked the dirt on the beaten path, making a cloud of dust rise in the air, blurring her vision. She turned her head towards the table, regarding the gods' presences once more.

' _I have to do it, don't I? There is literally no way out for me from here. It's either do or die, and I've always hated these types of odds... But I'm here now…aren't I?'_

She turned towards them fully, the cloud of dust now finally setting and letting them see her reticent expression.

…

"Oh dear… Where do I start?"

* * *

Here's chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it. I do own this chapter, but I definitely don't own whatever Kishimoto-san did. Don't forget to review, since those few lines are really the ones that keep the will to write coming.


	3. Chapter 3 - Problem Solver

~Chapter 3~

Problem Solver

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

She couldn't have pictured a more unusual scene than the one unfolding before her: three gods, all in various states of unrest, staring intently at a mere piece of paper that was about to close the deal they had been going for since the beginning.

' _Sick, little over-controlling bastards…'._

"I find it to be completely reasonable," she said, nose in the wind. "Not only do you receive complete reassurance regarding myself partaking in this whole mess, you can also begin to trust me, since I no longer have as many fears about it as before. The contract's just a way for me to stay sane, really. No need to ponder over it that much."

Her voice trailed slowly towards the end, still gauging their reaction to the rules she had thought were needed to be put together, truthfully related to their previous verbal agreement.

"It's a human thing, I guess," one of the gods uttered, poking at the contract. "They wouldn't trust their own mothers if it came to it."

"You're not my mother," she mumbled darkly, thoroughly not in the mood for their whole fascination with her kind.

"We don't seem to find anything amiss, though," another said, glancing one last time at the words written before them:

 _ **Summon Agreement**_

 _ **The godlike party is to benefit from the efforts of the first reincarnation of the soul in any way they deem possible, with the obligation to comply with the other party's following requests:**_

 _ **She is not to be summoned ever again after her completion of the task regarding the reestablishment of the balance of the CURRENT universe;**_

 _ **Her identity is not to be divulged to other parties that may be interested in her soul's heritage;**_

 _ **She is to be kept alive at any cost as the whole affair unfolds;**_

 _ **She is to be allowed to reverse-summon herself at any time she deems necessary;**_

 _ **The two parties' dealing is to be terminated as soon as the soul's real body is on the verge of passing away.**_

 _ **This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement of the parties and supersedes all prior or contemporaneous oral or written agreements concerning the subject matter.**_

 _ **Soul's signature, Gods' signatures,**_

"…We do have a question, though," spoke one of them. "We hope we've made you well aware of the fact that your soul is to remain in this universe until the energetic imbalance is solved, which indirectly implies that, in the unfortunate event of your current body being degraded to an unrecoverable degree, it is to be replaced. Why have you thought it necessary to make keeping alive the body an undeniable rule?".

The corner of her lips dipped downwards in dissatisfaction.

"Well, I would like to avoid feeling a pain so excruciating that my body gives in, no matter how nice the next body gets to be," she muttered, swinging back and forth on her toes and heels. She stopped as soon as she saw their dumbstruck faces. "Hey! You haven't experienced physical pain, so don't go judging my ass around."

The gods cringed at the loudness of her voice, suddenly about to deny that they couldn't feel pain, especially when it came to their ears and her too often moments of anger.

"Fair enough," and they moved their hands above the paper, making three neat signatures appear on it. She followed suit soon enough, scribbling a name she was to barely remember in the future, and the sheet of paper glowed a light blue, setting the deal with a godlike finality.

Right when it was about to disappear, though, she suddenly arched her hand and caught the contract in it.

"Wait a sec, I forgot I need a copy," she said. She sat on one of the chairs and started writing vigorously, her tongue sticking out in effort.

The gods looked at her in wonder, questioning briefly why they couldn't have just multiplied it, but letting the thought fly as they got distracted by her stance and outpour of passion.

"Done," she said after a while, lifting a sheet full of writing, one that was slightly smudged against all her efforts.

"Ugh, my left-handedness is acting up." She was about to reach for another one to complete, but was stopped in her tracks by a god.

"We'll deal with that," and a single thought of theirs' managed to gather the blurs of ink into straight, deft lines.

After signing both contracts, they just…stood there.

Truthfully speaking, she was reticent about going back. They were reticent when seeing her be reticent. In the end, they just kept silent, one staring into space, the others fidgeting.

"I have another thing for you to sign," she said suddenly, her eyes still unfocused, unblinking. When the gods leaned forward in curiosity, she snapped out of it with a swift shake of her head.

"I think it is reasonable for me to fear going back, considering where things were left," she started, her hands coming together on the table. "They most likely think of me as a spy and I really wouldn't like to find out what colors the walls in the T&I unit are. The only way I think they would accept me is to explain to them at least part of the reason I'm there."

"But-".

"I said part of it. I'm definitely not going to just pop in the Hokage's office and declare I was a god sent by gods," she said, sarcasm dripping at the tip of her tongue. A sudden smile tugged at her lips. "Of course, I can pull that card all I want, but imagine their distraught when they find out I can pull their pants off whenever I want."

Even the gods were distraught by that thought.

"Now, back to business. The plan we've discussed is pretty much based on me dropping from the sky in random, but not so random, places. One tiny itsy problem would be my safety. I can just drop in a damn shit hole and that would be…well, shitty. Also, the prospect of me being followed or hunted by the people I will have to help in the future isn't that nice, either. The best thing would be to make them trust me enough for them to drop me wherever I'm needed."

A pensive look passed on the gods' visage and it did last long.

"And what would your course of action be in that case?"

"Well, you know me, human and all," she voiced, slapping another sheet of paper in front of them. "I'm all for the solid proof."

* * *

There was no shift in the air. The night was too quiet and still, and that unnerved him. Guard duty wasn't the hardest task for an ANBU like himself, but it definitely put a lot of pressure on him if something was to threaten the village at its borders. His senses stretched to their limits, he was analyzing all that he could observe, hoping nothing of importance slipped his notice.

There was no new chakra. None. So there really was no reason for the sudden foreign smell that wafted his way to appear out of nowhere. It was the scent of lilies, crushed grass and…ink. He could almost taste it. The source, though? According to his own chakra sense, there was none.

He skipped the branches below his feet and landed noiselessly on the forest ground. The wind was having a serious grudge on him, giving the fact that it kept pulling the scent away from his nose. A slight tilt of his head to the right, though, and it all came back to him in full force.

It was unmistakable. He could hear sounds now as well. Someone seemed to be shuffling their feet through the leaves on the ground with the least bit of grace, almost intent on making their presence known.

The lack of chakra in that area didn't bode well with him, though.

' _Oh! What if it's a ghost?'._

….The fact that that thought scared him a little didn't bode well with him, either.

' _Better get down to business,_ ' and he jumped from the shadows in front of the figure that couldn't have been more unaware of his presence.

"Aaargh!" the figure screamed, so shocked that the fall that followed was completely reasonable.

"State your business," he asked sternly, spine straight as a rod as he tried to read to slight being in front of him.

A woman of no more than 20 was shaking leaves off her long, light skirt, taking the whole cleaning process to her now wild mane of burnt orange. The scent of lilies came from said mane of fire and the one of ink and grass was being conducted through the air by the unceasing movement of her stained hands.

"I came…" she started, still out of breath from their short encounter. She soon let her arms down and looked him straight in the eyes with a pair of dark, fearless pits. "I came to surrender."

The puffs of her breathing were the only thing that disturbed the scenery the following seconds.

That was strange. She was strange. By her stance alone he could very well tell that she wasn't a shinobi. The lack of chakra was downright disturbing. It might have been that she was made aware of it somehow and was trying to mask the little bit she had as a civilian. It was either that or… . Nevertheless, any change of her being a threat by means of jutsu alone was out of question now. His continuous output of chakra didn't return any other activity in the area, so she wasn't a distraction, either.

No other shinobi, no traps, nothing.

His tense form relaxed the tiniest bit then.

"Very well then," he whispered. He twisted his body towards the village, inviting her to start on the route. She hesitated at first, but passed him in a haughty pace nonetheless, obviously trying to hold onto the last bit of pride she had left.

The walk was quiet for only a few short moments.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I'm doing this?" she asked, turning her head in his direction.

He looked back at her, the surprise etched on his face hidden by the mask too tightly stuck to it.

' _She's a talkative one, that's for sure.'_

"Whatever your reason is, you are still to be brought to the Hokage, since you've passed the borders illegally."

"…Oh." Her head turned back to the road, the curls of fire dancing on her shoulders at the movement.

"Isn't that a bit of a stretch, though?" she further inquired, this time not even bothering to turn his way. "I'm sure tons of people pass the borders this way, and most of them civilians, since shinobi would definitely skip being captured by you if there was any other way. Isn't leading stray people directly to the Hokage a waste of his time, really? I mean, sure, he is most entitled to take decisions regarding the safety of the village, but shouldn't you have some sort of personnel to at least filter the cases?"

Her voice rang strongly at first, only to trail in the end, sign of her still thinking of the whole ordeal.

"Don't you agree?" she asked again, this time turning around fully and continuing on the road by walking backwards.

"We are flattered by your concern with our policy, miss," he said drily, not commenting any further.

She scrunched her nose at him, not at all amused by his answer.

"Pfff, fine. Be that way," and she turned back to the road, this time ceasing to start any other sort of conversation.

' _Ugh, thank Kami,'_ he thought, relinquishing in the silence that settled between them.

Once out of the woods, the path to the Tower didn't last long and no sooner than later, they were standing behind the closed doors of the Hokage's office.

' _Damn, this brings back memories,'_ she thought bitterly, bits of the experience of her first tangency with this world appearing in her mind.

"Come in," said someone from inside, the voice belonging to someone in dire need of a vacation.

The doors opened to reveal what she expected to be the same old man as before, only with what seemed tons of additional burdens now pressing on his shoulders.

"Hokage-sama," the man clad in black next to her muttered, bowing slightly. "I have found this young woman wondering through the borders on the west side. The reason to this, according to her, is to surrender herself."

"I could have told him that," she muttered grouchily from behind. She was trying to hide as much of her appearance as possible, just enough not to shock the Hokage into relieving her of an arm or two.

The old man let a silent sigh escape his lips, his eyes finally lifting from the problematic sheets of paper in front of him. He was craving the taste of the pipe resting on the desk to his right, but it would have to wait. It wouldn't do to show his subordinate his still unwavering unease in regards to the recent events that had taken place.

The ANBU before him covered almost entirely the presence of the woman behind him, a presence that seemed adamant on being inconspicuous.

' _Now, of all times?'_ the ANBU thought drolly, slightly amazed at the utter mess in the girl's priorities.

"Do show yourself, miss. It wouldn't do to prolong our business to later hours than necessary."

' _This is it,'_ she thought with dread, willing her muscles to respond to her command.

She didn't waste any time on making her face clear to the two men before her. She didn't allow herself to show her distress, either, unconsciously following the advice that when in the presence of predators, showing fear is the worst thing you could do.

Her body taut, she was ready for anything.

' _I have prepared for this. I'm ready,'_ and her resolve steeled, straightening her back.

If the Hokage had followed his first instinct at seeing the girl, she would have been long dead by now. He might have been known for his wisdom and great experience, but the war had eroded his resilience as well, turning every decision into a test of patience and thorough self-control. The sight of the very reason behind the new creases on his forehead was one to behold, since doing otherwise meant an entirely different fate for the seemingly defenseless girl.

"I hope now you do intend to explain your presence more thoroughly than you did last time." As he said so, he leaned backwards, adopting a seemingly relaxed stance with the purpose of observing even the slightest twitch from the girl.

He saw her trying to gather her wits as fast as she could, swallowing a lump in her throat and taking deep breaths to prepare her lungs for the ongoing flow of words that she was to expel from her mouth.

"I am very sorry to have caused you problems in the past. Unfortunately, my situation didn't allow me to properly answer your questioning since I myself was not aware of the reasons behind it. My sudden appearance here was not of my own volition, but that of my summoner."

The Hokage's eyebrows drew together at that. He was about to contest the fact that humans could not be summons, but he should have expected something that didn't sit well with him, coming from her.

"I must clarify that I do not qualify as a human in your world," she said, following his expected train of thoughts."Actually, I do not qualify as a being here, period. In my world, beings do not survive on chakra. There, this sort of energy does not exist in itself, unlike this place. We are all civilians there, meaning we lack any means of doing tricky things with our spiritual and body's energy."

"If that's so, then you cannot name yourself a summon either," the Hokage commented, ignoring the impending headache at hearing about worlds without chakra. "The act of summoning itself requires a certain amount of chakra, from both the summoner and the summoned."

"I'm getting there," she mumbled, now suddenly very interested in the content of her pockets. A small sigh of victory revealed a neatly folded paper in her hand emerging from said pocket.

"My summoning is roughly similar to your own, meaning that it implies the signing of a contract. The only difference here is that it was thus written so that the energetic needs of the procedure are all sustained by my summoner," she spoke, offering the sheet of paper to the ANBU beside her. He checked it of any possible threats that might be contained in such manner and offered it to Sarutobi the moment he noticed everything was clear.

The Hokage looked at it with interest, noticing the vastly different layout of the contract. It appeared to him that the parties did not rely at all on spoken words and had put down every little aspect of their business. The points were formulated so that advantages were offered to both sides, which made him aware of the fact that they had talked through the formulation of it together.

"Why is it that you were summoned here without previous knowledge?" he inquired, still scanning the document in his hand.

"My summoner couldn't think of a better way to introduce me to your world," she said, bitterness lacing her tone. "He literally dropped me here, thinking I would be fine on my own. When you guys almost butchered my guts, he suddenly realized that throwing a puppy in the lion's den isn't going to somehow soften the beast into gushing over the puppy's cuteness, pff. My disappearance was actually myself being reverse-summoned due to being on the verge of death. I have come again as a result of him finally explaining to me the whole ordeal."

She stopped for a bit, licking her drying lips. He would have offered her a glass of water had he not been so preoccupied with the bombs the girl kept dropping on him. The ANBU that had accompanied her was unmoving, but he was silently thankful for the explanation of her lack of chakra. It wouldn't have done for him to start doubting his chakra sense after all his training.

"…and the reason?" the Hokage asked, still trying to understand the situation.

"My summoner is somewhat indebted to this world since a very close acquaintance of his has started wreaking havoc around here. Do not believe that every tragedy that's happened and is about to happen in this world is all due to fate and what not. Most of those events have been triggered by said acquaintance, whose ideals were moral, but his way of reaching them was not. This said acquaintance … was a summon himself. He had been in my summoner's service for a while before it all happened, so he had trusted him with living in this world peacefully. He had betrayed his contract, though, by taking action without his summoner's consent. Although the contract with the perpetuator has been broken, the deeds remain and my summoner found it to be his duty to fix as much as had been broken."

She took one step forward, making the ANBU twitch with her sudden movement.

"The perpetuator," she said, biting her bottom lip, "was my grandfather. I have been sent here to repay for his deeds and try to undo most of the ones that have already been settled. Please accept my presence and do help me in reaching my goal." She bent at the waist, bowing deeply to the Hokage. The latter was quietly digesting the information she had just offered, placing every bit of information in its rightful spot.

"Now, why would I do that? I must tell you, miss, that the village is my priority, no matter the circumstance. How am I to know that undoing certain actions of your grandfather won't affect the very thing I am trying to protect?"

"I will not be taking any action regarding Konoha without consulting your first, sir," she spoke confidently as she straightened her back once more. "My job is already settled, but I shall always make you aware of my proceedings concerning the village. If you find the possible results of said proceedings troublesome, I can always modify my course of action to suit the needs of the people of Konoha."

"…Why Konoha?" he asked suddenly, getting up from his chair and meeting her eye to eye. "Why are you involving us in your business and not any other village? Or are other villages already involved in it?"

"No other village is involved, sir," she said, not tearing her eyes away from his, "and the reason to choosing Konoha is one that I don't think will bring you much happiness, my Lord." A sad smile was suddenly adorned on her lips. "Unfortunately, my grandfather has had most of his dealings with this very place and the future looks the darkest in Konoha if we are to let things flow as they are already doing so."

Hiruzen looked at her with silent scrutiny, discerning every thought she might have had by the movement of her face. She was being honest, though. The author had made the story about Konoha and it all came back to this place in the end, so she might as well start with it.

"How am I to trust you?" he muttered quietly.

Hearing his words, she lifted her face towards his and stared back with conviction. The hardness of her face spoke of her decisiveness more than her words would ever do.

"If you ever find my actions to have endangered the village to an extent greater than acceptable, kill me."

The power with which she said those last words shocked even the chiseled shinobi before her. Of course, he would have had her killed anyway if she so much as moved wrongly, but the thought did count. It wasn't every day that people could place their life so easily into the hands of others, even more so into the hands of a complete stranger like himself.

He sighed internally.

It was all too sudden for him. Something like this had never happened before, to any of the previous Hokages, so he didn`t have any reference as to how this...thing could evolve later on. She practically implied that she was on the verge of making a series of actions that would change the entire future of the nations. He couldn`t take this lightly.

He pulled his eyes from her and stared at her offered contract, taking it in his hand one more time. He could feel the weight of chakra in it, meaning t had been reinforced so that its` destruction wouldn`t come easily. He pushed the tinniest amount of chakra in the paper and waited for the effects. His energy spanned the entire page, spreading like light tendrils from his finger until they reached the signatures. As expected, they shone briefly, confirming the validity of it.

He put it back down, but didn't let it go from his hand.

He didn't know what she was supposed to do and he hated that. His only proof that she didn't mean any harm were her own wor-

Sarutobi stopped in his tracks. _'But she can't lie,'_ he thought, tracing with his gaze the lines of the signatures. _'All chakra contacts are absolute and cannot be broken.'_.

Looking back at what was written in the contract, the Hokage was getting more and more assured of the nature of her intentions.

 _'Writing it all down sure does help,'_ the man thought critically. _'Maybe we should start applying this sort of method from now on as well.'_

The Hokage lifted his head tiredly, glancing one last time at his visitor.

She was a strange one, that was for sure. Her involvement with this situation was even more so. Her way of bearing herself, though, made him think that she was as confused about this whole situation as he was and was barely grasping at anything as well. Her fidgeting might have called for nervousness, but he was also seeing a thin sheen of perspiration on the side of her neck that screamed of the anxiousness she was actually feeling.

 _'At least she's aware in what position she's thrown herself in...'._

Her gaze held strength, though. Sincerity as well. She didn't flinch under his heavier regard, but not because she was used to holding her own when in front of people with power. She seemed so driven that nothing could get in her way, not even someone who could kill her with a twitch of his finger.

He sighed heavily then, his shoulders losing their almost regal line.

He had no other choice now. He was either sealing the deal with her and helped her along the way, or he let a loose cannon like her go under their nose. Her offer presented more advantages to him than to her either way, so he doubted that the willingness with which she wanted to help his village was just a way to convince him to give in.

' _Although it is weird how loyal she appears to be to our interests…'._

It was a bet in the end and, truthfully speaking, that was all he had been doing lately. He turned around and walked to the window, looking at the sun that had finally risen at the horizon. The people were starting their day early right under his eyes, them scrambling already to the many duties they had for as long as the sun was up. He smiled contently when seeing kids playing happily through the crowd, but his smile soon fell when he spotted another child, dirty and uncared for, slipping by the people in hopes of stealing their bearings for a piece of bread. He was just another victim of the war stealing away his parents and there were so many of them that the orphanage, despite its recent reconstruction, is unable to house all of them at once. Some of the older ones sneak out of it willingly, trying their hand ant living alone on the streets, like the one before him.

There were so many ways in which his people suffered and he felt the stretch when he couldn't solve all of them, even if his desire was to do so. Where the people lived was less important now than whether they were able to live, with the village experiencing shortages in food supplies from the constant interference of their enemies. Even more so, the odds of the war itself weren't looking good on their part. They were on the verge of losing and he knew it. At this point, only drastic measures could be taken and he wasn't thrilled with having to order them.

He cast another glance at the people on the streets.

If there was one more opportunity for him to make their life better in any way, he would take it. This war had already taken so much from his people and he felt lacking when he couldn't even give back as much as they'd lost.

Turning around, he spared a measured look her way.

Her offer was to be accepted. There was no other option.

* * *

She stepped through the entrance of the Hokage Tower, stretching her stiff muscles in the warm sun and breathing in deeply the chill, fresh air of the morning. It was refreshing to finally be out of that office. Hours spent trying to convince people not to kill you always gave her a sore back. She took some steps up to the edge of the road and stopped to wait for her new escort to come. The ANBU with who she had been through the thick of it for the past few hours finally emerged from hall of the Tower. The new dossier in his hand was filled with false records of a new Konoha citizen.

"Come on, ANBU-san," she said, blinking tired eyes his way. "I'm gonna fall on my butt and sleep there if you're not gonna show me a place to do so sooner." A wide yawn then stretched her lips, making tears appear at the corner of her eyes. "See? I am unable to go on being awake for much longer. Where is that new apartment of mine?" she asked, already walking down the road.

"The other way," a voice said from behind. She turned around, only to see the ANBU already several feet away, walking in the exact opposite direction towards her new place.

"Hey, wait up," and she ran after him, cursing him in her head for his little joke.

The walk to her apartment was quite short, barely five minutes away from the Tower.

' _Guess he wants to keep me close, huh?'_

The building seemed quite new, the three stories marked by large windows to each separate flat. Her escort entered it swiftly, already climbing the stairs to what she hoped was only the first floor. Water pressure was never that good if you went any higher.

Her wish did come true and her black-clad guy stopped in front of the door at the end of a well-lit hallway. A pair of keys jingled and the door opened without a hitch.

The one-bedroom apartment was larger than what she expected it to be. The living room was spacious (and she was, frankly, quite surprised she even had one), connected on the right to an open kitchen.

'' _That isn't going to be used,'_ she thought, predicting her future laziness in cooking.

The two doors on the other side opened to the bedroom and a bathroom respectively. She barely even noticed any details related to them since, as soon as she saw the queen-sized bed, she ran towards it and collapsed on it with oomph, immersing her tired limbs in the soft bedding.

"Aah, sweet mercy," she sighed happily, her chest already heavy with the exhaustion that was taking over her. If she was doing her math right, she had been awake for more than 26 hours.

' _I'm sooo gonna mess up my sleeping patterns.'_

"I'll leave the keys on the kitchen counter," her escort said from the living room, pacing a bit before finally opening the front door.

"Yeah, yeah. Bye, honey," she droned, already with an imaginary foot in dream land.

The ANBU cringed at her way of addressing him.

' _It's going to be a pain working with her.'_

"Don't forget about tomorrow's meeting. The Hokage would prefer it if you respected scheduled time."

When no answer came, he looked at her collapsed figure through the open door of the bedroom. She seemed to already be in deep slumber. Listening to her breathing and deciding that it was indeed so, he let go of the door handle and started doing several hand signs in quick succession. As soon as he ended them, a light blue string of writing circled the room, settling on the walls and disappearing into nothing afterwards. Content with the result, he started doing another set of signs, each set adding layers upon layers to the previous ones.

His job done, he let his arms fall with a balance, already heavier from the expense of chakra that had passed through them. He cast one final look at his from-now-on protégé and turned around to leave.

"See you later, Moyoshi Rena-san," and he closed the door without a sound, letting the apartment be filled with only its new owner and her soft, tired snore.

* * *

Alrighty, I hope you like the chapter. I have every intention of posting till the very end for this story, but I'm currently in the heat of exams, so don't despair if you don't notice that fast of an update. I give my word, though, that I'll update as soon as possible. Pinky promise.

Please leave a review! I like those.


	4. Chapter 4 - Forced Alliance

~Chapter 4~

Forced Alliance

She woke up.

…

This was beginning to get repetitive.

' _Ha, sleeping gets repetitive. What the heck is wrong with you?'_ she scolded herself, burying her face deeper in the pillow. A few moments later, she turned, revealing a squished face, with sleep lines gracing both cheeks.

She closed her eyes and inhaled. She breathed in until her ribs couldn't handle it anymore. After holding the painful breath in for a while, she exhaled slowly, feeling her heart wake up and her brain jiggle a bit at the sudden intake of oxygen.

What she did afterwards came naturally, her habits only partly disturbed by the new layout of her housing and the new girl that appeared out of nowhere whenever she looked in the mirror.

She took a long (and needed) shower, feeling somewhat shy about her new body.

' _Ugh, it's like I'm staring at someone else's nakedness.'_

After cleaning up thoroughly, she pulled a chair in front of the mirror and proceeded to examine every bit of her new self.

' _Woman, 19-20 years old, average height, but quite slim built. Pale skin, auburn hair, coupled with freckles across the nose and a pair of unnaturally black eyes. Straight, narrow nose, thin lips and soft jawline.'_

Her eyes scanned the body's limbs, poking at the fiber beneath the skin.

' _Fit enough for a civilian,'_ she thought, her finger tracing her forearm down to a certain spot.

' _Scars…'_.

She shifted her gaze rapidly, not wanting to dwell on the fact that someone else had lived inside that body before her.

' _The damage's done. Don't think about it.'_

She stared at herself in the mirror, her shoulders slumping more and more as time passed by. It didn't take long for her forehead to reach the edge of the sink, the cold surface contrasting with the heat of her skin.

"…Get up," she said quietly to no one.

She didn't move.

"…Get going," she said again, scrunching her nose at how unresponsive she remained to her own encouragements.

All she managed to do was shift her head enough to prop her chin on the side of the sink, her eyes yet again meeting their own reflection in the mirror.

She sighed softly.

"Day 1."

* * *

"Nothing."

She opened the next cupboard.

"Nothing. Ugh, they're really trying to get me out of this place by starving me to death." She closed the door of the cupboard with a bang, flinching at the noise even though she did it herself.

Picking up a glass, she filled it with water to the brim, quenching her thirst and trying to fill her stomach so that it would stop bugging her. She downed it in rapidly and went for seconds. After her third glass, she finally decided that enough was enough.

"Now I really have to go out," she muttered, patting her belly that was making weird noises from too much water.

Dressed up and ready to go (which didn't take a lot, considering all she had was what she came with), she crossed the living room and went for the door. The time said she had about three hours before having to meet the Hokage, so she was going to make the most of it while she could.

Opening the door, though, revealed a whole nother issue she had completely forgotten about.

"Aargh!" She almost jumped out of her skin when she saw the man waiting for her at the door.

"Good morning," he said peacefully, his stance in complete contrast to the utter mess Rena had become.

"ANBU-san! Give some notice before you try to scare the water out of me."

"…I was just about to knock," he muttered monotonously. He waited for her to pull her wits, enough to give her whatever was hidden in his pocket before.

She gazed downwards at his stretched out hand.

"Money," she stated.

"Yes, indeed."

"…Oh," and she took it, stuffing the bills in her jacket. After doing so, she just simply stood there, not sure what to do with the masked man before her.

"Um…Care to join me?" she asked in the end, tilting her head in wonder.

The man didn't give any answer to that, but he did move his body towards the hall, wordlessly accepting her invitation.

"Oh, good, `cause I've just realized I have no idea where to go." She passed him swiftly and stepped towards the exit, but it didn't last long.

"Moyoshi-san," the ninja called from behind her, stopping her in her tracks. She turned around, only to see him step towards her while scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"Please stick this on your back," he said, handing her the paper.

"What for?" she asked, confused but still willingly accepting the scribbled scrap.

"It wouldn't do for you to walk around without any kind of chakra. The presence of it is unconsciously perceived by the people of this world, so you would stand out this way."

"And this will help?" She was already half-turned around, trying to stick it to her mid-back.

"I've put enough chakra in it so that you'll appear to be a civilian to other's senses. Sticking it to your back is just aligning it to the usual place the chakra core resides in people."

She threw him a glance as she turned around, fixing her clothes.

"Wow, ANBU-san, that must be the most I've heard you talk since we've met. Good job on the flow!" She gave him a thumbs up and started towards the entrance hall.

"Are you coming or not?" she asked, her retreating back to him. A soft sigh left the mouth behind the mask, the sound followed by those of his footsteps as he went after her.

The sun was already way up when they got out in the streets. She marveled at the people scattered on the streets, hurrying along their daily business and not noticing the quirky redhead that kept staring at every single one of them. She would have liked to just sit still and stare at that beloved chaos a bit more, but the tug at her elbow called for her to follow her mystery black-clad man.

"Would it be too much for you to give me your name?".

"Yes."

The short answer dampened her mood.

"Give me an alias or something then. Unless you want me to come up with something truly becoming."

The small threat worked its deal and made him give a minute flinch to it.

"My name is truly of no importance since we will not be seeing each other again after this meeting," he said with a tint of finality in his voice.

"Fine, then I'll ju- wait. You'll leave me all alone in this horrible world? Argh, betrayal!" she said mournfully, displaying incredible theatrical skills in the sorrow department. Her crying face didn't last long, though, being split by a smile in the end.

"Thank you for your help, then, ANBU-san. You made it a lot easier to handle, even if it wasn't for long."

Her eyes turned wistful all of a sudden and her unusual mood was rightly questioned by the man beside her, who threw her fugitive glances through the holes in his mask.

"So," she spoke, clapping her hands as a means to dissipate any wandering thoughts, "How about grocery shopping as a starter? I'll really need a hand with carrying all there is to carry to make that place livable…"

* * *

A knock was heard on the door.

"Yes, come in," spoke Hiruzen, loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door, but still keeping the ever present gentleness of his voice.

She entered the room quietly, her expression serious, almost sour to a certain extent. The girl (since he really couldn't consider her anything else other than human) took reticent steps towards his desk, obviously unsure what was in store for her. She had lost some of her previous confidence, although it was all groundless worries: in spite of his initial opinion of her loyalty and/or mental stability, he was now sure of her motives and would make certain she would feel as comfortable and secure as he could make possible.

"Rena-san, I see you managed to find the Tower on your own this time," he said, good-naturedly.

"Indeed I did. I wish I hadn't gotten lost the fifth time on the way here, though. Four would have been enough," she muttered jokingly, eyeing the extra people in the room.

Three other men were keeping to themselves while she happily conversed to their Hokage, all three of them eyeing her with reluctance. She'd come to realize she'd met them all except one. The two blondes were obviously her dreamy capturer from the river, the other, paler looking one, being the one that had tried to gently mind-rape her. Throwing him hateful glances for his deed was beneath her, but that didn't mean she couldn't seethe with anger at the thought of him.

The third man was all tall and dark, except his air of laziness gave a tangy taste to his handsome features. His hair, kept tightly at the top of his head, spoke silently of what immense volume it would have if left unbound. All these men's eyes were sharp with intelligence, but his half-lidded ones hid weapons of the mind few people were capable of handling.

"I've called Rena-san here to inform her of your future partnership in what she's meant to accomplish for her contractor. Minato-kun, Inoichi-san, Shikaku-san, this is Moyoshi Rena-san."

The men tilted their heads forward in response, a cold, but polite way of introducing their indulgence of her.

"Rena-san, these are Namikaze Minato-san, Yamanaka Inoichi-san and Nara Shikaku-san, all three of them powerful shinobi of the village and what I believe to be key presences in your future plans.

They've already heard the essentials from my side, Rena-san, but I'm afraid I couldn't do much to make them believe your clause and course of action, considering you yourself aren't so sure of what the latest of the two entitles." The tilt in the old man's head made her bow her own, feeling a sudden guilt at how little she could actually divulge to them in order for all changes to remain controlled.

"Well then," she spoke, clearing her throat," I'd like to begin by apologizing for my little…outburst from our first meeting. I wasn't completely aware of the situation I was in, so any damage I might have caused was completely unintentional. Please, do not let that incident be the reference in your analysis of my self." She shifted her weight on her other leg, hands clasped together in front of her.

"Hokage-sama must have already informed you of my mission and its rough completion format, but I could not share details related to it at that time. Do believe me when I say that I will tell everything there is to tell when the proper time comes and the number of disadvantages coming out of the disclosure is at its minimum."

She eyed their guarded stances with what she believed was a trained eye, not even trying to comprehend the level of scrutiny she was being subjected to under the three jonin's watch.

"Your involvement in this is of utmost importance," the Hokage started, leaning back on his chair. "You have my complete trust in handling whatever she will throw at you and I know there are no others that would succeed in it as you would."

The stances of the three newly-appointed jonin had lost some of their tightness, the praise ringing loudly even in the ears of the world's laziest genius.

"I know you have your doubts and you are free to have them," she started again, sincerity gracing her tone of voice. "But please work against them for a while, at least until you are truly convinced whether or not I'm worth your trust." She was itching for a place to sit down, just to calm her nerves, but she knew it would have been impolite for her to do so and for the others to keep standing tall.

"Certain figures have or will become threats to the well-being of the village, as well that of the world, but terminating the war with the least amount of casualties is a must at the moment. It is of my understanding that victory won't be in sight for a while on our side, is it so?".

The Hokage sighed shortly.

"Indeed, the movements of the enemy doesn't allow for any progress to be made, enough for us to get the upper hand."

The shinobi beside him tensed once more, not delighted with the conversation and its content.

"I see. I must advise you on finding a way to weaken Iwa's forces, by any means possible. You could even start from their basic needs," she said with an air of finality to her words. "I assure you any plan you may create with that in mind will turn the tide."

She shifted slightly, not entirely sure whether she should say more or should've said less.

The four in front of her looked at her with unneeded intensity, all of them dissecting her piece of advice and trying to find a solution with it.

"Winning the war is a priority, so I won't be burdening you with other issues any time soon," she muttered, turning her head towards the Hokage. "I am … out of subjects, sir." She sheepishly scratched at her head, not at all knowing what she was supposed to say.

The Hokage rasped a small chuckle, finding her antics endearing.

"You are free to go. Before that, though, would you please allow Minato-kun to grace you with something?"

"…Sure. As long it's not permanent or damaging, go ahead," Rena said comfortably, blinking at the approaching blonde. He stretched his hand towards her, palm up and then seemingly waiting for her to make a move.

"Umm…" She put her hand in his, now uncomfortable with the contact. The sensation didn't last long, though, since as soon as she set it in his own, he gently twisted her fist, making the inner part of her forearm easier to reach. He then moved a sole finger on the sensitive skin, leaving in its trail a series of black marks that settled deeply in the tissue. His hands were entirely too warm, so the icy sensation of the markings was even more pronounced. She hissed slightly, but not from being in pain. Truthfully, she just couldn't whistle.

"Well, I guess I can get tattoo off my bucket list," she uttered, smiling slightly. When she looked up, though, her smile turned into a grimace of suspicion.

"Why are you so relieved?" she whispered, eyeing the way the man was blinking slowly, as if to remove any image of the expected failure.

"It was only in theory that this method was confirmed to work," he explained. "This is a tracking seal and in order for it to work, I have to intertwine my chakra with that of the one I'm tracking. You yourself not having any chakra was a tiny problem when it came to applying it…"

"…Oh. I guess the seal ANBU-san has given me is saving the deal then." She turned towards the door all of a sudden, knowing the masked man was behind there somewhere. "Good job, ANBU-san!" she said excitedly, giving a thumbs up to open air.

' _Venturing out on my own is definitely out of question now.'_

"Is it, um, activated at all times?"

"It will be at first, giving that I have to get used to the new presence, but, over time, I'll be able to use it only when needed," the man said, smiling a bit at her possible reasons for putting that question.

"Thank you, N-Namikaze….san?"

"Yes," he answered the subtle inquiry. "Would you mind us escorting you, Moyoshi-san? There are some details we wish to discuss with you, if possible."

"…Sure," she affirmed, tilting her head sideways to cast a glance at the Hokage."Have a nice day, Hokage-sama. Oh, and heed my advice, but when you do, please send full-fledged jonin to do the job. Otherwise, it could get…messy."

"I see," the Hokage said gravely. "Thank you for the warning, Rena-san."

She smiled sweetly and tilted her head the other way, staring at her new companions now.

"Let's go," and she started towards the door after bowing to the room.

The three shinobi bowed to their commander and followed her with sure steps, their faces set and their eyes not leaving the girl leading in the front. Rena saw them lingering at least two steps behind her and forcefully made them walk side by side with her by slowing down her gait.

"What is that you want to talk to me about?"

Her face seemed innocent at first glance - eyes enlarged, bottom lip slightly sticking out and a tendency to raise her eyebrows. They already knew it was all false pretense though. The girl had too much spark to her eyes at times to think that it wasn't all planned to the smallest detail, so they had to thread carefully to fully discern…her.

"I hope you do understand our reticence in helping you," Shikaku said bluntly. "There is no context to your appearance and the one you've presented could be falsified, even though hardly."

The girl turned her face to the road and hummed slowly.

"So, what's for me to understand is that you do not trust your commander's judgement."

The evident poke at their loyalty left a bitter taste in their mouth, but they had to make sure.

"Hokage-sama has a war to wage. It is only human for him to make certain mistakes at times. What I do hope is that allowing you in the village wasn't one of them," Inoichi replied with a grim twist to his mouth.

She sighed heavily at that.

"Then what do you want me to do?" she said, stopping in the middle of the busy street. The three men stopped with her, looking at her confusedly.

"Do not think for even one second that I want to get involved in this mess that is your world. I was literally thrown in here with the sole purpose to save everyone, apparently, AND I don't get anything out of it."

She huffed, all annoyed at the situation and at her outburst.

"I feel like I'll be going in circles for a while with you, people. I'm starting to think convincing you to let me help you will cost me more effort than saving a whole bunch of people."

Seeing how they appeared to have self-conflicting feelings regarding her words, she sighed once more and continued on her road.

"Let's go get some tea. My throat is hurting from trying to keep my damn head on my shoulders."

All of them entered the tea house Rena picked at random, one which seemed to be quite busy at that time of the day. The table in the corner rang a nice bell for both the shinobi and their companion, so they sat at it, the ninja with silence and Rena with oomph.

After each of them told the serving lady their preferences, the table fell silent, the chatter around them not enticing them to make conversation.

She eyed them once more and swallowed the lump that was starting to form in her throat.

"You don't have to trust me," she said seriously. "You can take all the precautions needed so that you can feel safe and I can do my job." She shifted in her seat, suddenly slumping. "I guess what's itching you is that you don't know what you'll be dealing with… I get it."

She closed her eyes tightly, looking like she was remembering something she was supposed to forget.

"I hate the unknown too."

She stopped talking to let the servant place the tea pots and sweets accordingly.

"What you have to understand is that you are part of the unknown to me as well. I have no idea how you'll react to my missions, whether you'll kill me the first chance you get or you'll stop me from doing what has to be done." The peaceful sound of the tea pouring in their cups didn't coincide with the unease they were all feeling.

"So let's just accept not knowing everything about each other for now. I'm sure you're human enough to see when I'm sincere or not and so am I when it comes to you."

She extended a hand to the closest one to her. Inoichi looked at it and stopped in his tracks before grabbing it, seemingly to take a bit more to ponder over it.

"You don't have to trust me." The conviction with which she said those words made him lift his to assess whether or not her expression told the same story. Her whole body was taut, but her eyes never left his.

He grabbed her hand and shook it.

If she didn't sigh in relief, she might as well have. The way her whole body looked like it suddenly lost all its bones was comic relief to the other two, who'd deeply felt the intensity of the deal made before them.

Rena then turned to Shikaku and Minato, taking turns in shaking both their hands. She was so nervous about the whole situation she almost spilled her cup in Inoichi's lap, but thank Kami for shinobi reflexes.

They stood in silence for a while after.

"…I still don't trust you," Inoichi said, his voice void of any inflection.

"…I don't mind," Rena answered soberly. "Trust is overrated anyway. I mean, who in their right mind would put their own lives in the hands of others, without a single doubt regarding the outcome? I'm glad you don't trust me actually," she said, sipping at her tea. "That just means you're sane."

* * *

Inoichi and Shikaku left after a short while, each needing to return to their posts, leaving Minato to care for the walking-danger of a girl.

The two of them were walking alongside the river band, avoiding the afternoon crowd in the streets.

"Are you sure you have the time to be strolling around with me?" Rena asked, genuinely interested in his answer. She knew from…certain sources that he would be a key piece in the many fights Konoha was to have with its enemy.

"It just happens I've recently returned from a lengthier mission. There wasn't anything urgent to attend to, either, so the standard rest time for each shinobi was applied."

She stole a side glance at him, searching for pain in his visage and easily finding it.

' _Ah, so it's that kind of rest…'._

"Do you have any formal training in any fighting style?" he asked, although he already knew the answer just from the way her body moved.

"I used to. Years of it, actually. I just kind of…lost my touch."

He looked at her, a tad bit surprised at her admission.

"…What, do I seem that unsuited for the battlefield?"

"Um, well, yes," he said awkwardly, silently hoping that the serious face she was pulling didn't hint at her getting upset about it.

She kept the face a while longer, until he was on the verge of apologizing, really, and then she proceeded to burst out laughing.

And she laughed. And laughed. She was laughing so hard tears were brimming at the corner of her eyes. It almost seemed like, if she were to laugh any harder, she would have been straight up wailing right beside him.

She gulped for air after several failed attempts at it and finally opened her eyes to the world.

She was on her knees on the ground, a worried face hovering in front of her. She couldn't see it clearly. The tears were still blurring her vision.

The face in front of her was getting clearer. It was framed by bright, spiky hair and it no longer looked worried for her health. It was actually sporting a tender smile, a knowing one even, like the person was aware what that laugh had actually meant.

"Better?" he asked, giving her a hand to help her get up. She accepted it quietly, her head hanging, disheartened.

""Yes, thank you." She dusted herself, prolonging the moment so as to postpone the one she was to meet his eyes. After seeing herself fit to go on, she lifted her head proudly.

"So…Why?"

"Sorry?"

"Why did you ask me that?"

"Oh. Well, I doubt all of your future tasks will be diplomatic in essence. Plus, even though we are to protect you from any foreseen danger, there will be times in which you'll have to protect yourself."

"I…guess."

"I was wondering whether you have any plans to remediate that bit."

"Don't. Why, are you offering to train me?" she asked cheekily.

"I am, actually," he answered, smiling.

' _This man smiles too much.'_

"It doesn't hurt that I've recently been assigned a team of Genin to guide. Another person during their training sessions will only benefit them."

She threw him a look full of doubt.

"If you say s-"

"Good! We'll be training every day at Ground 7."

' _He seems all too happy about it.'_

"Fine, I'll come. We will train in self-defense only, though. I have no wish to know how to kill people."

The conversation just died afterwards and both of them were fine with that. The quietude must have been needed in both their cases.

She was staring at the river while they were walking. The flow of the water was peaceful, rarely disrupted by the ripples from within. Suddenly, a fish pierced the surface of the river, throwing its body up in the air with remarkable force. It almost seemed like it was floating for a second. It almost seemed like magi-

"Oh," Rena muttered, stopping in her tracks. Minato stopped as well and looked at her curiously, especially when she lifted her hands and started staring at her palms with passion.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, although he was starting to doubt it was even worth ever asking that kind of question when it came to Moyoshi-san.

"…Yeah, just remembered something." She left her arms fall lifelessly, her gaze unfocused and lost. "I think we'll just have to add something else to our little sessions of training."

She turned her eyes to him, looking as if she was assessing something of utter importance in her head.

"I'm going to show you something, uh, interesting. Just…don't freak out, okay?"

"Huh?"

* * *

That's it. Also, I'm back.

I don't own Naruto, obviously. What I do have is the wish for you to enjoy this chapter. See ya!


	5. Chapter 5 - In The Process

~Chapter 5~

In The Process

"Huh?"

"Um…Do you know of my status?"

"Meaning…?"

"What I am. Here."

Minato pulled back a bit, curiosity piqued by her inquiry.

"You do remember our first encounter, I hope," she said, pointing at a bench for them to sit. It wouldn't do for her to show him her powers while he was still standing.

"I do," he said, with a tinge of amusement in his tone.

"As you've probably noticed, I do not have any chakra of my own. The reason to that is quite simple, really. I'm just not from…here."

Minato's eyebrows were slightly drawn together at that, but he remained silent, waiting patiently for her explanation.

"My missions are part of a contract I made, my position thus being that of a summon in here. My lack of chakra is due to my own world's way of evolving, which happened without it."

She couldn't do anything about the conflicting emotions on his face, but she was thankful that he was willing to wait it out.

"What the people from my world did have, compared to yours, was the ability to control matter."

"…Matter as in-"

"Anything that does not possess life force. It can go from molecules, that aren't connected to living beings, to planets, really. It all depends on how much the person has honed that power, though."

Minato remained quiet for some time, digesting the information thoroughly. She was surprised he was dealing with it so well – it had taken her three days just stop panicking about it.

"It does sound similar to how chakra users manipulate the five elements, according to their affinity. Only, in your case, you have all the elements and then some more."

"Hm, well, I don't know exactly what I have."

She chuckled bitterly at his questioning gaze.

"I'm a novice with it, truly. I've barely discovered it and all I can do with it at the moment is just enough to not harm myself."

Her lips thinned slightly and her face set. Eyeing a piece of wood near the bench, she silently willed it to float in the air. Obediently, the stick travelled slowly to her stretched hand, stopping above her palm.

"That's the deed," she said, grabbing the stick and presenting it to Minato. His eyebrows were still pretty much bunched together, but he nodded in consent nonetheless.

"We'll see what's to be done this evening then," he concluded, looking at the changing position of the sun, which was now blazing from above. "Come, I'll escort you home."

* * *

"So?"

The chatter and clutter of dishes surrounded them like firm, soundproof walls, allowing them to continue conversing on the subject at hand.

"I say she's telling the truth. There isn't much to it, anyway…" muttered Inoichi, the words getting lost in the gurgle of his drink as it flowed down his throat.

"Yeah, she is. I was actually afraid she would be, though," Shikaku said, poking at his food without much enthusiasm. Minato looked at him in understanding.

"I hope she comes alive out of it," said Inoichi, after putting his drink down without a sound.

"Most likely," spoke Shikaku. "She seems too sure of herself not to have something up her sleeve to keep her alive through it all. I'm almost certain it has something to do with that darn contract she isn't whispering a word about."

His words flowed with a bitter rapidity, so unlike his usual manner of talking in slow tempo.

"We'll see what we're dealing with when we accompany her. She seems to have a knack for guessing what's to happen sooner or later."

"I'll give her that, for sure," the long-haired blonde said, affirming the other blonde's words. "She's a tad bit too knowledgeable for my taste."

They stayed in silence once more, thinking the situation over.

"What did you see when you entered her mind that first time?"

Inoichi released a dry laugh at Shikaku's question. "Nothing! Isn't that wonderful? It was T&I all over again, only then the people were dead, not breathing under my nose."

"What about her body language?" insisted Shikaku. "Any unknown signs coming from that?"

"Except some signs of anxiety, not much."

"…Anxiety?" asked Minato, recalling the instance in which she'd almost collapsed in front of him.

"Only slight signs of it for now. Sensitive to noise and movement, hypervigilance, unnatural gestures and defensiveness."

"Unnatural gestures? Like?"

"She keeps reaching for her ring finger on her right hand when she tries to explain something. When she does reach it, it looks like she's twirling a ring. She must have had one before and used it as a means to distract herself when nervous."

"Hm, that pretty much rules her out of the spy list," commented Shikaku.

"Or puts her on top of it," continued Inoichi, giving a swing to the liquid in his cup. "I don't really get why Hokage-sama was that reticent to approve of it to begin with. Hah," he laughed all of a sudden. "It's truly such a mental reason she's given, that it would have been impossible for it to work had she been a spy."

"Indeed," laughed Minato. Shikaku was sobered up though.

"Then we should help her." His silenced friends nodded in unison to that, all three decided to give her a fair chance, the best one at that.

* * *

After unending efforts on her part, she had finally managed to send Minato on his way without accompanying her to her lovely abode.

' _The guy's too damn controlling at times.'_

She trudged to her apartment, not even noticing the reddening skin on her exposed shoulders, nor the dry dirt that was gently exfoliating the soles of her feet, shoes and all. Redoing her shopping had been a must for her, since she'd missed several of her essentials that she would have been embarrassed to buy with her dark-clothed shadow right behind. Bags in hand now, Rena was silently enduring the heat of a typical summer day around there, which meant rays that scorched you to the bone were you not in the shade or at home.

"Hah, and I thought I was lucky the streets were so empty for me to walk." She blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, but it got stuck to her sweaty forehead instead, annoying her further.

"Aargh!" she exclaimed, putting her bags down and scrubbing at her face vigorously. After finally getting rid of any itch, she continued to express her frustration by looking around the neighborhood. "Where the heck is that damn house?"

A single look further to the left would have placed her right by it, but she was not having that luck, so she continued on her road as before.

 _(20 minutes later)_

"-ith all the paper and all the ink that's flowing around here, you'd think they'd be able to put up a few signs for poor, confused foreigners, but noooo," she muttered, shutting the door with the side of her foot, her hands full with bags and a half-eaten ice cream that had saved her on the road back.

She put her newly acquired items on the kitchen table, thankful for how cool her apartment had remained during the literal heat of it. Turning around, she could finally see just how many things she had to do: entire bags and boxes of clothing and utilities were already lying round, waiting to annoy her.

"Damn, better do something about it then," so she started unpacking and cleaning like she'd never done before. Music was missing, though, so she couldn't get as hyped about the whole deal as young girls used to do in the movies she used to watch in the other life. Thinking of this, she went on to name the many technological goodies she could have used in this world.

"I won't be able to microwave my food, I won't be able to call people-"

' _Not like I have anyone to call to begin with.'_

"-I won't be able to ride cars, I won't have Inter- Oh dear God!" she gasped, dropping the toilet paper she was placing on the shelf. "I won't have Internet…"

Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone there who could understand the extent of her pain, so she had to suck it up. Really well.

"Maybe I can invent it somehow…" she whispered with a silver of hope. "Pff, and who will you share your tweets with, dumbass?"

"You tweet for a hobby?" a voice said from the kitchen, scaring, yet again, the shit out of her.

"Really, ANBU-san, just give me a sign!" she said back loudly, not even bothering to see his nonexistent expression. "Plus, you yourself have said, in such a cool, macho way, that we won't be seeing each other again." She came out of the bathroom, leaning on the side of the door. "Changed your mind?"

"…I got new orders," he said casually, not even looking at her, but at the mess she had been trying so hard to undo for the past three hours. After taking it all in, he finally seemed to look up in her direction. "They're classified, of course."

"Of course," she said, unamused. "Well, if you're here anyway, just give a hand. I feel like I'll drown without even trying in here."

"Yes, indeed," he said, picking a bag. "Imagine if you were trying after all."

Rena threw him a side glance that was in tune with her feelings, which weren't doing very well at the moment.

"Any new developments to the war?"

She had asked just to roll on the conversation, but she hadn't expected the heavy silence that followed her words. Hearing even his movements slowing to a stop, she turned towards him, a solemn mask hiding her desperation.

"How many?"

"…Just over 200. Sudden surprise attack from the north."

She nodded understandingly, turning to her task.

"Any acquaintances?"

"A few."

The silence stretched further, him remembering the faces he'd once known, her the dread and need to save them all. She was so engrossed in her depressing thoughts, that she didn't even pay attention to how carefully she should've actually grabbed the slippery bottle of ink.

The second it took for that damn recipient to reach the floor, she'd managed to do tons of things, more than she'd done the whole evening, really. First, her eyes enlarged to unchallenged proportions; second, her hand tried in vain to recuperate the flying object by stretching stiffly towards it; when her leg came up to at least slow its descend, she was already on the verge of falling. What tipped it all off in favor of the floor being the winner to the scuttle were the bouncy foam balls that were pretty much populating the apartment more than her. Those little white devils wouldn't have been a problem had she not tried to regain her balance by jumping at an angle on them.

You see, she was heavier than the cute, blackness-filled bottle. So she reached first.

What she wouldn't have given for the cute bottle to never even reach the finish line, ever.

"Aargh!" she screamed, punched by multiple unpleasant sensations at the same time. The one that topped it all must have been the ink, though, which managed to get splashed in all directions and all possible ways. When she tried to get up, slowly even, she slipped yet again, her hand gliding on the inky floor. At her now second fall, she had finally given up fixing the situation.

"This is a mess," she murmured, shutting her eyes closed. The only thing that opened them once more was the stifled laugh that was making its way from the other side of the room.

"Are you guys recruiting any new faces for the ANBU?" she asked, staring at the ceiling. "I feel like I would fit right in."

Steps could be heard coming her way, the feet stopping mere inches from her laying, inked body.

"You would indeed," he said, the smile on his lips almost visible through his voice. He stretched a hand for her to grab, which she did lazily. She was all dirty any way; one more moment of peace on the floor wouldn't have been much of a loss.

"There you go," he muttered, seeing her on her feet after her little adventure. Looking at her impromptu body art, though, was a challenge without continuous snickering. A challenge he was lamely failing. She would have kicked him in the shin had she been able to, but she had started laughing herself, which didn't help his case at all: the ink was now all over her teeth as well.

"Come on, it can't be that bad," she said laughing, stumbling to the mirror on wall. She was at least careful not to step on anything important, unless she wanted to remember this moment at literally every step.

"Oh gosh," she gasped, staring at her smeared appearance. The surprise ended quickly, though, and she suddenly starting symmetrizing the marks on her face. A snort could be loudly heard from right beside her.

"What? I want to be pretty," she said with conviction, continuing her ministrations. "Black paint is no stranger to my skin, especially on the expanse of my face." She stopped all of a sudden, a look of fright glazing her eyes. "I hope you people do have acetone sold around here…"

"I wouldn't know," the man replied drily.

"What, don't you ever stain your fingers using ink?"

He lifted a gloved hand at that.

"You know what? You're annoying," she huffed, puffing her cheeks at her image in the mirror. "And for that, you're gonna go buy some," she said sweetly, twirling his way.

"I don't see why I should," he said, stepping back, fearing she would resort to bodily measures to convince him. What he didn't expect was for her to start jumping in place all of a sudden, excited with who knows what.

"Oh, I know, I know! I can just lift it off!", so she started lifting the ink off her skin and he started lifting his eyebrows. The moment the ink started floating midair was one he would remember a long time from then.

"What…?"

She turned around at the sound of his voice, surprised to finally surprise him with something.

"Oh, I guess you don't know everything about me then," she replied cheekily. He was speechless, truly. First time it had happened to him in a while. A few moments later, though, his lips pressed firmly against one another.

"You don't know that much about yourself either."

"…Huh?" Hearing those exact words was doing funny things to her mind, one of them being the fear that her true self had been somehow exposed.

' _Ohshitohshitohshit-'_

He lifted an eyebrow at her frozen state.

"You do realize you could have done all of this," he started gesticulating towards the mess in the room, "in mere seconds, right?"

The dumb look on her face said it all.

"Oh Kami…" He was face palming so hard he could barely help himself.

"Haha, oops…"

A knock was suddenly heard from the door.

"I'm coming!" she said, jumping over the boxes lying around. "Oh, shit, wait." She turned towards the room and started swinging her arms around, eyeing different objects as they were sent flying to their respective place. Some of them crashed against walls, some of them landed rather roughly, but the room was somehow clean in a few moments. Nodding at her well-done job, she hurried to the door, not wanting to keep her visitor waiting. Despite her speed, though, she stopped all of a sudden in front of the door, now fixing her hair and ruffled clothes.

"Good grace…" the guard muttered, slipping a hand behind his mask to rub at his tired eyes.

* * *

He could hear noise coming from inside the apartment. A sharp voice had answered his knocking, but nothing much happened afterwards. Well, that is if you are to ignore the several thumps and crashes that seemed to resound in the room behind the door.

"Yes?" someone answered, the person opening the door widely and rapidly. He had to blink at least once at that.

"Minato-sensei said to pick you up for our afternoon training session."

They stared a while at each other, unblinking.

"I'll wait." He then proceeded to lean against the wall in the hallway, completely ignoring whether the woman he had been sent after was moving or not.

"…Um, please come in. I won't take long." The weird lady then proceeded to just march right in, leaving the door wide open for anyone to enter. He went in without much hurry – there was at least an hour left until their training session, but he'd figured being early would be best.

The other person in the room, though, surprised him.

' _I couldn't even sense him.'_

The man clad in ANBU uniform was sitting idly on the couch, unbothered by his appearance. His countenance was somewhat explained, though: his scent was all over the room, so he must have been familiar with the flat. The scent of ink was something else that had shocked his senses greatly.

"Done," the woman said, coming out of her bedroom. She was clad in typical civilian clothes, her auburn hair tied in a knot at the top of her head. "Just let me get my shoes," and she hurried to the small closet beside the door, taking out standard shinobi sandals.

' _Huh.'_

"Bye bye, ANBU-san! See you later," she said with a weird inflection to her voice, right before she turned to her new guest and smiled brightly at him. "Let's go."

All he did in return was stretch his hand forwards.

"Huh?"

"Grab my hand."

"Wh-" and in their places there were now only leaves falling gently to the ground.

* * *

"Urgh, that doesn't sound good," the black-haired boy said, listening to the heaving sounds coming from behind the bushes. "I guess you'll just have to walk here next time."

"Are you alright, miss? " The gentle voice of the brown-haired girl could barely be heard by a very sick Rena, who could barely keep herself from literally spilling her guts on the ground.

"Let's tell people next time we teleport them, shall we? Urgh…"

"Teleport?" Obito inquired silently. He just shook his head in the end. She must've been delirious.

"Never mind," she said, finally getting out of the bushes, a hand to her stomach. "Just…don't touch me for the next couple of minutes."

"Don't worry, we won't," Kakashi answered drily, not at all affected by her state of being.

"We will, unfortunately," a voice answered all of a sudden, making Rena bend at the waist with sickness from being yet again surprised.

"Ugh, just stop appearing out of nowhere, people," she groaned, finally deciding to just lay plain and simple on the ground.

"M-Moyoshi-san, what happened?" the worried blonde asked, hurrying to her side to help her get up.

"Just one of your students messing with my civilian insides, nothing much." By the time she was up on her feet, the three genin had managed to gather around the two adults, now waiting for instruction.

"What did you mean, sensei?" asked Obito, who's eyes suddenly lit in joyous understanding. "Oh, oh! Are we going to fight against her?" His ecstatic jumping stopped after a short while, though.

"But how come, sensei? She can barely stand up." His commentary ended at that as soon as he saw Rena's poisonous glare.

"Let me introduce you first. Moyooshi-san, this is my team – here is Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin and Hatake Kakashi," he said, gesturing towards each genin as he called their name. "Team, this is Moyoshi Rena-san. She is to train with us from now on."

"…Huh?" was the general consensus among the three genin.

"But she's a civilian, Minato-sensei! How can she train with us? She'll be in dange- Ow!" Obito's passionate speech was interrupted by a blunt hit to the head thanks to Kakashi's lack of patience.

"She isn't to participate in any of our team training. We'll just be supervising her own training and helping her out later on."

"Why?" asked Kakashi, not seeing the reason behind such arrangements.

"Consider her being under our care," continued Minato. "Don't worry, though. I doubt she'll be in your way when training. I actually think she has several ways of helping you out with it as well."

"How?"

"Oh, we'll see at the right time," Minato said smilingly, his grin giving them an idea as to what to expect.

"Oh… Great then!" Obito then stepped forward and stretched an arm straight, palm open. "Nice to meet you, Moyoshi-san!"

Rena returned the greeting happily, sharing them with Rin as well. When it came to Kakashi, though, he didn't make any movement concerning any civilities towards her.

"Nice to meet you, Kakashi-kun," said Rena, stretching her own hand towards him. His hand, then, suddenly shot up and she grasped it tightly, finishing the greeting properly. Kakashi's surprised face was barely masked by the fabric plastered on it. Rena's smugness wasn't masked by anything, though.

"Let's get to business then," spoke Minato, clapping his hands in front of him. "You guys, go on and do your warmup. I'll talk a bit with Moyoshi-san about her training."

As the three genin walked away, all with varying degrees of complacency in regards to his order, Minato turned to Rena, smiling at her in hopes of making her feel more at ease.

"So, let us do a warmup as well and then you could show me the rough forms of that fighting style you've learned before."

* * *

"Ugh, I can't move," Rena said, gasping for air. "Can't breathe either."

"We're done with the physical part for today, Moyoshi-san, so you can rest now," Minato said after returning from instructing his students on new jutsus. "Here, drink this." He handed her his bottle of water, taking pity in her and her state of mush.

"Thank you." She grabbed it lazily, almost spilling all its contents. Drinking said contents wasn't done in a lazy manner, though. She might have been a little too close to choking, but she didn't stop.

"Easy, easy," laughed Minato. "Taking small sips is better. Helps regulate your breathing as well."

"Well, I'll just gasp later on," she said, taking another full gulp of water. "Too damn tired to control muscles now." She glanced at him swiftly, but quickly turned back to look at him closely.

"You haven't even broken a sweat! What's wrong with you?" Rena exclaimed, scandalized by the view.

"Haha, I'm just used to it by now," Minato answered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

They both sat in silence for a while, both staring at the three genin while they practiced their moves – one analyzing said moves and finding ways to correct them, the other just plainly gaping at the sight.

Stealing a glance at the way she was breathing, Minato decided to finally go on with their training.

"It won't be long until the sun goes down," he said, watching her check the sun herself. "Would you show me your powers a bit? Just to see to what they extend?"

"Um, here?" Rena asked, looking briefly at the preteens that were engrossed in their training mere feet away.

"Come," he said, getting up and dusting his pants. "We'll go down by the river. It's not far off from here."

After managing to get up (which was a true hardship for her at the time), she followed him to the wide banks of a river, flowing just past the training grounds in which they had been practicing.

"Well, let's begin then. Shall we start with lifting them?" After seeing her nod in approval, Minato then proceed to point at differently sized objects, getting a hang of the capacity of her "weightlifting" powers. She could easily manipulate objects weighting up to twenty pounds, but anything heavier and she was struggling.

"Okay then," he said, already concluding several things after seeing her practice. "How else can you manipulate them?"

"Well, I can change their color." She moved her eyes to a dead piece of wood from around and turned it a bright blue.

"Oh."

"Yeah, it got me the first time as well." She turned to him and was about to say something when she suddenly stopped and stared at the water flowing behind him.

"Huh, I never tried water before…" She approached the edge of the bank, staring at continuous flow of water running beside it. She then willed the water to form…something in the air, but all she could get were just tiny twitches that might've as well been waves to begin with.

"Maybe the fact that it's moving is disturbing you," spoke Minato. He then kneeled beside her and started making a series of hand signs in a certain order. Out of nowhere, the earth just broke apart, leaving behind a nicely shaped hole and, after some other hand signs, water started flowing towards it from the river, filling it to the brim with fresh, but still, liquid.

"There, that should work better."

"T-thank you," Rena said, still surprised by the whole event. A few moments later, she managed to concentrate enough to will the water into floating above the surface. When she tried to shape it into something specific, though, it all came to nothing.

"Ugh, it's kind of hard," she said, dropping the blob of water back to its place. "The molecules can move freely, compared to solid objects, so I find it difficult to grasp them all at once."

They both stood on their knees next to that hole full of water, thinking about ways to improve the issue.

' _Geez, we look like we're praying.'_

"Maybe it isn't necessary for you to control all the molecules at once," Minato said, a unique glimmer in his eyes. "You could just will the molecules on the exterior to take a certain shape and then encapsulate the others."

"That…might work. That might actually work," she said excited and positioned herself for the deed. She concentrated fully and, by applying Minato's advice, she managed to make a recognizable round globe, although one that was spilling at every turn and chance.

"Yay, it works!" Rena exclaimed, letting the water drop once again. "I still have some difficulty with managing it since the molecules of the exterior tend to change, but I think I can fix that in time. Yay, high five!"

She stretched her hand, all happy, at Minato, completely forgetting he had no idea what that meant.

"…Um, yes." She retracted her hand slowly, her movements noted with amusement by the shinobi beside her.

"…What about fire?" she asked all of a sudden, getting even more curious about her own powers.

He didn't even have time to react to her inquiry, since a blasting explosion suddenly made itself known right around the training ground in which they'd left the genin to train.

"Well, you might find out," Minato said, getting up and hurrying to the scene. Upon their arrival, all they could see was plenty of smoke, so Rena tried the first thing she could think of. A swift movement of her hand willed the wind to empty the clearing of any smoke there was, bringing fresh air from the woods.

Minato looked at her in surprise, sensing she was the cause of the sudden winds.

"The air molecules are easier to control. They're fewer and, in this case, I didn't have to stop their movement – I just had to will them to move them faster." She then gestured towards the training ground, where three stunned students stayed still. Obito was the only one who seemed to have a somewhat guilty face.

"Oops," he said, unconvincingly. "That got a bit out of hand there."

"You almost scorched us to death," said Kakashi, as unpassionately as he could.

"That's right, haha! Such is my power! I'll be Hokage in no tim- Ouch!" This time, it wasn't an angry Kakashi that had interrupted his speech, but a flailing flare of fire that was still going in the grass around them. Rena took the opportunity to try and mold the fire to her will. She tried, but, unfortunately, there wasn't anything she could grasp at.

"Well?" Minato whispered, curious as well of the result.

"Nope, doesn't work. It isn't actually matter, so I can't pinpoint it like I do with molecules." Rena started munching at her bottom lip then, an idea coming to mind. "But I could do something about it, though."

She stared at the playful wisps of fire around the grounds and willed the air away from them. As soon as she did that, the fire started dying down, now without much oxygen to burn properly.

"Hah! It worked!"

Minato disrupted her concentration, though, the moment he grabbed her forearm.

"Wait, don't extinguish it yet," he warned her. "We don't want others seeing your powers unless necessary."

"Uhh, sure," she answered, her voice squeaking a bit at that.

' _I guess I can't tell him I've already messed with Kakashi's mind today.'_

* * *

That's it for today. Hope you enjoyed it. As always, I don't own Naruto, only Rena, so don't sue me :D. See you next time.


	6. Chapter 6 - Conflicting Emotions

~Chapter 6~

Conflicting Emotions

She'd fallen into a sort of disrupted routine after that day: wake up, eat, train, sleep, and repeat. It wasn't to say she was always on the dot with her schedule (Kakashi could definitely vouch for that since he was in charge of escorting her to the grounds). Surprisingly, she hadn't seemed to retain the same sleeping pattern from her own life, so she could finally see what it felt like not being a night owl. She couldn't have been one, even if she wanted to: Minato seemed way too cheery at 6 o'clock in the morning, so he found it only right for his team to follow in their leader's footsteps.

"For Kami's sake, five more minutes," she mumbled loudly, managing to do that even while pressing a pillow to her head with as much force as possible.

"You'll choke that way," Kakashi commented, him sitting like a damn owl on her window pane at 5 in the morning. "Wake up or we'll be late."

"Yes, indeed, so freaking late that we'd be the only ones there when we arrive," she said now clearly, having unearthed her sleepy head from under the bedding. She was especially sour that very morning, so she had no inhibitions with throwing hateful glances at the 12 year-old brat… Not that she ever really had them.

"Fine, fine, just go sit in the living room for now."

"I did that last time and you fell back asleep. I'll just sit here," he responded, making himself comfortable next to her blooming cacti.

' _Oh dear God, I'm gonna have to throw him out the window this time… Well, can't help it,'_ and she flicked a pinkie his direction, increasing the gravity tenfold…but just for his bum, enough to ruin his balance. He went down, face up all covered up by his mask, but still exposing part of his surprise. His ninja skills only slightly slowed down his descend, him falling down either way.

She jumped from her bed and went to the window, leaning over the pane and staring at a grey-haired kid who couldn't understand why it was suddenly so much harder to get up.

"That should teach you," Rena said proudly, taking in her masterpiece. "Now come up and sit on the couch," she said, already turning her face away from the window. "It's a good place for you to think about your manners." She flicked her pinkie once more, getting rid of the invisible glue that kept Kakashi frustrated.

The boy huffed in annoyance, although the redness of his cheeks made it clear he was now aware of his almost-crime. He took his time going back up, knowing that letting her be would be the best course of action. To his surprise, by the time he reached the apartment, Rena had already managed to shower and dry herself. He could tell by the way her hair and skin were now scented, but, to others, she might as well have just changed her clothes.

"How did you do it so fast?"

"Huh? Oh, I just changed. Tea?"

He looked at her with suspicion for a full minute, but let it slide in the end.

"Tea?" she asked again, this time looking his way to see what he was doing.

"No, thank you." He sat on the couch silently, choosing the end closest to the shelves full of books, just so he could read the titles without any bother.

"Do you like reading?" asked Rena, who was placing two steaming cups on the coffee table.

"I said I don't want any tea."

"Oh, you'll live. Now drink it before it gets cold," she said in a hurry, going back to the kitchen for cookies. He took the cup in his hands, staring hesitantly at the liquid inside. His train of thoughts was interrupted by Rena clanging a metal box full of cookies on the table. He couldn't help the judgmental look he sent her.

"Is this all you eat in the morning?"

"Don't worry your little soul, dear," she spoke quietly, sitting down next to him. "I've had a protein bar right before this."

"Protein bar?..."

"Uh, cereals and fruit in a way." She sipped at her tea with care, but her luck still called for her to burn her tongue in the end. Nursing the affected flesh by clicking it to her teeth, she turned to him once again. "So, reading?"

"…Yes. From time to time." He turned his gaze to the books, not knowing what else to say in return. He couldn't help but marvel at the size of her library, despite her having moved in merely weeks before.

"Where did you get all of these?" he asked, staring curiously at some books he'd never even heard of.

"Ah, you just have to know where to look for them," she answered sheepishly, noting his growing interest. "You're free to borrow any of them, if you want… Cookie?"

He turned to her to refuse her politely, but the enticing piece of goodness was already close to his nose.

"No. They're unhealthy," he said stoically, leaning back from the hanging treat.

"What do you mean 'unhealthy'? They're the perfect cure for anxiety, cramps and sad thoughts."

"Cramps?"

"Just an added benefit. Now eat and feel the magic."

* * *

"You could have just asked me to look away." She was pacing rapidly through the training ground, slightly in front of her supposed conversation partner. "I know you treasure your mysterious face, but I really don't think smashing my cactus to the floor was worth the damn thing!"

"I did say I didn't want any tea."

Minato eyed the two carefully, not wanting to get sucked in the whole deal.

"I don't even know why you're complaining that much," Kakashi dared to say. "The whole mess just swooped back up to its' original form anyway the moment we were out the door." He was now staring intently at her, waiting for whatever answer she could give to that observation. Rena did, indeed, hesitate, but that was only to calm her nerves, enough not to smack the grey-haired smartass in the head.

"You know what? If Mr. Ukki dies, you're next."

"Now now, calm down, Rena-san," interrupted Minato, who had anxiously been waiting for the conflict to an end somehow. "I'm sure Kakashi-kun had no ill intent towards…Mr. Ukki."

"I might have now. That name is horrendous…"

* * *

Minato came her way the moment he had finished instructing his three students on the teamwork exercise. Staring back at them for a second, he could only be thankful that Rin was there with them.

"Worried?" asked Rena, having stopped from her usual katas to stare at the team as well. "I know I would be. These guys' personalities make it almost impossible for it to work well from the beginning."

"Are you saying it will work well in the end?" sighed Minato, not taking his eyes away from the three.

"…Depends. The war might be an impediment though." She scrunched her nose at that, not wanting to be reminded about what was going on mere miles from there. "We know for sure it has already caused a lot of damage, especially in their case." Minato turned fast at that, surprise written on his face. Rena just snorted humorlessly at that.

"What? Thought I didn't have my homework done? " She looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. "I'm more informed than I wish to be, Minato-san."

"It appears so," he whispered, questioning how much exactly she was in the know about.

' _You have no idea.'_

"It seems more suitable for me to be surprised when you aren't revealing anything startling."

"I hope you aren't entertained by the thought, Minato-san. I might disappoint you immensely."

They both grew silent after that, just like proper adults, troubled by life and what not.

"I was thinking of incorporating my little tricks in my defense," she said suddenly, breaking the silence. "It seems too much of an advantage on my side not to properly take hold of it."

"True. What have you thought of?" Minato was finally turned fully towards her, forgetting about the sketchy teamwork happening behind him.

"Well, I was thinking of a shield of some sort, be it based on gravity or on air movement."

"What would each work for?"

"Ugh, see, that's the part I'm getting stuck at. Gravity manipulation would be proper in stopping any kind of flying object coming towards me. It is also a lot easier to do than manipulating the air movements."

"Air movements?"

"Um, something of the sort. I was thinking of condensing it to make objects unable to pass through it, or thin it out if someone just decides to burn me to a crisp." Both cringed internally at the image.

"Why not make it layered?"

"…Yeah, that could work, but that would mean sooo much training," she complained, not looking at the way-too-innocent smile on Minato's face. "Plus, I don't even know if these mighty ideas of mine can even be applied in the first place."

The jounin nodded at that and suddenly took three kunai out.

"Let's test it out then," he said, lifting the sharp weapons in the now glowing sun.

"I, uh, don't, um," Rena was now slowly retreating towards the edge of the forest, desperately trying to find an excuse. "T-the kids will see it! We don't want them to know about my powers, don't we?"

"The river's that way," Minato pointed out, already walking in that direction, but not putting back the weapons of choice.

"I'm so doomed…"

"Don't worry, Rena-san," Minato spoke sincerely, trying to calm her down a bit. "We won't even be throwing these towards you today," he said, twirling one of the kunai. Rena was being terribly put-off by the word 'today'.

"I'm going to simply throw them in the air at first, just so you can get used to their weight. Are you ready?"

"…Um, yes, sure."

Increasing the gravity in the area under the kunai wasn't the least bit difficult, considering the actual weight of the weapon, so the sharpened piece of metal did fall to the ground with incredible speed, not making any uncontrolled movements in the process.

"We're going to have to increase the force of the throw as we go," explained Minato, picking the kunai yet again, but with a graver face now, as if suddenly realizing something. "An average chunnin out in the field throws with a force of at least 4000 N, that being without the weight of the actual weapon. What you got until now is- "

"Barely 10 N." Rena looked at him with intensity, not wanting to understand the immensity of the scale difference, but still doing so. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, making calculations in her head.

"That means almost 1000 pounds for a flying kunai."

"…Yes."

"And I can barely manipulate things over 20 pounds."

Minato was looking at her worriedly, waiting for whatever decision she was to make in that regard. The prospect seemed frightening for a simple civilian. But she wasn't any civilian.

"I better train then," she said quietly, not looking up with determination, but with fright. A simple kunai had suddenly put into perspective just in how much danger she was actually in. The gods might have reassured her when it came to the whole dying thing, but she wasn't in the mood of experiencing the almost-dead state either.

"Alright," answered Minato. He was a bit relieved at her decision since he was sure she would evolve in a matter of days if she were to put her mind to it (which she seemed to have done so right in front of him).

"Here we go."

* * *

She was sporting a terrible headache, with no apparent way of making it go away. Hours of trying to increase the gravity on a damn kunai made it seem like it had increased on her own head as well.

"Here, drink this." A small, dainty hand was clasped around a bottle of water, stretching it right in front of her.

"Thanks." She took it with a limp arm, sipping slowly from it as to not move her head too much at once.

"I could try and help," said Rin, who was now sitting with a worried countenance right beside her.

"You could?" asked Rena, full of hope. Her temples were throbbing, so any way to stop that was to be well received.

"Yes," smiled the brown-haired girl. "I've been assisting at the hospital for the past month and I think I finally got to do the Mystical Palm Technique to proper capacity."

….Well, I guess there was one treatment that she couldn't gladly receive.

"Ah, well…" She was about to gently refuse the girl, but a sudden sharp pain at the back of her head stopped the words in her throat.

"Argh, please do something." Fortunately, her grumbled words were clearly heard by the medic in training, who gently placed her hands on her temples. The moment her chakra made its way into her skull, they both gasped, but from very different reasons.

Rena was reliving the first time she had ever been healed with medical chakra, horrified, but, at the same time, mystified by the weird, minty energy. Rin's emotions were a tad more conflicting, though. She had expected for chakra paths to meet her senses, but nothing could be sensed in that way, whatsoever. She managed to keep herself in check, though, and soothed the woman's pain, but not without tons of questions running through her mind.

The moment she took her hands off of Rena's forehead, the latter sighed relieved, slumping to the ground like goo. She didn't miss the look Rin was giving her, though.

"Yeah, yeah, I have no chakra pathways," she said, like confirming it explained it in any way to the confused girl. "I have no chakra either." She stretched a wide smile on her face, happy with how free of pain she was now feeling.

"H-How?"

"Don't worry, I'm not dead. It's just a little…condition I had, ever since I was little." That didn't seem to bring the color back to the girl's face. "I assure you, I'm healthy." Rin nodded meekly, though her gaze was now holding a curious edge to it, which was, frankly, a dangerous thing when it came to a medic in training. Rena could already feel it wouldn't be long before she would become the subject of intense investigations.

The older of the two turned her gaze to the three males of the team, now all involved in some sort of controlled game of escaping flashy kunai thrown by the jounin.

' _That man likes his kunai way too much.'_

"Well," spoke Rena, getting up slowly from her seated position, "I better go. There isn't much for me to do around here anyway." She dusted herself properly while Rin followed suit in getting up. Minato, seeing this, stopped his throwing, letting the two boys have a break.

"Are you leaving, Moyoshi-san?"

"Yes, I should be. I've had quite enough training for today," she answered, feeling a ghost of the pain she had previously been having.

"It was a fruitful session," smiled Minato. "We'll have to schedule our next one for another time, though."

"Hm? How so?"

"Ah, well, there is a mission my team has been assigned to. I don't know if you're aware of it."

She had an inkling, but she didn't really like it.

"…All of you?"

"Yes."

Rena looked constricted about it, but she couldn't utter much with Rin around. When the girl saw Rena's discomfort, she quietly joined her teammates. The woman's eyes trailed after the brown-haired teenager, smiling softly at how perceptive the girl was already.

"Has Kakashi-kun been promoted?" she asked in a whispery voice, not looking away from the three a few steps away.

"…Tomorrow, before the mission. What, what's wrong?" Minato was slightly worried now, seeing how Rena's face changed suddenly at the news.

"I, um, I'll have to go for now," she said, turning back to take her jacket and already hurrying towards the gate. "I'll see you later."

' _If it's right before the mission, then it's definitely that dreaded mission that changes everything. Dang it all! The heck am I going to say to the Hokage about it? 'Oh, yeah, one is going to lose an eye, another half a body and the other will battle 1000 men at a time.' Easy breezy, for sure.'_

She was pacing rapidly towards the Fire Tower, avoiding to break into a run in fear of alarming the people around like she did last time.

' _Especially since I'm almost less sane than I was the last time I did it.'_

She saw the shadow of a certain guard she was definitely getting used to, but she wasn't about to stop and explain him anything. He would hear it all anyway.

Seeing the Hokage's secretary as relaxed as he could be as she entered the building, she just assumed there was nothing important happening at the moment.

"Barging in it is."

She knocked at least two times before going in, though. Manners.

"Good evening, Hokage-sama," she said in a loud voice, shutting the door in the secretary's face. When she turned around, she saw that Sarutobi was not alone in the office after all: Shikaku was sitting in front of his desk, turned around to stare at the one daring to interrupt their meeting. He didn't seem surprised at who did it.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your meeting, sir," she said, pacing forward. "But I had several questions that required answering as soon as possible."

Hiruzen then looked at Shikaku, nodding in approval at whatever the later had been saying before she entered, and, thus, ending their conversation.

"I hope you don't mind if Nara-san remains present."

"…No, it's alright. He might actually help." The Jonin Commander drew his eyebrows together at that, but didn't comment.

"I guess I'll just go straight to the core: you can't let Namikaze-san's team to take the mission on their own." The Hokage blinked slowly at that.

"And why is that?"

"That mission will have certain complications. It will be successful, but with huge consequences in the future." Seeing the Hokage about to inquire which the consequences were, she added "Consequences which I cannot mention at this time. What I'm sure of, though, is that it could all be prettily avoided if there is one more person assigned to the mission."

"Unfortunately," started the Hokage and Rena was already dreading whatever he had to say next, "they are the only ones available for it."

She had truly feared hearing that. The events were bound to go the same if the team remained the same. Minato might have given her some sort of reassurance had she not known that he would be called on the front right during the mission. They couldn't stop him from doing that either: that day would change the way the whole war would end and the way he would end up as well. She just couldn't take that away from Konoha. What she could, though, was to keep fighting for the rest of the team to stay as bright and alive as she knew them.

"Can't ANBU go?" she asked, feeling desperate all of a sudden.

"This mission does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Black Ops Commander," commented Shikaku, knowing very well under whose jurisdiction the mission actually was.

"…Then I'll go with them," she uttered, not really thinking before saying those words.

"That's impossible, Rena-san," said the Hokage decidedly. "I know you want to help and I did say I'll let you do so, but there are certain things I just cannot allow."

"Don't put it in the report then," she said simply. "I won't be with them when they leave. No one will sense a fifth person around them if I were to take off the chakra seal."

"That's not the only thing stopping me from letting you go, Rena-san. Please understand that I simply cannot allow a civilian on a mission of such a rank. Not only will you be in great danger, you will also hinder them in the process of completing it."

"I won't hinder anyone," she said powerfully, putting her hands on his desk. "If you're worried about me not being able to keep up with them, I can assure you that is not the case. If you're afraid I might be in danger, then we just have to do a little trick with your chakra and my own lack of it to hide my presence."

"A genjutsu you mean?"

"Indeed," she said, finally letting her hands slide off the desk. "It wouldn't be one to cover a chakra signature either, since I don't have one to begin with. It could just be a minor one to make me blend in with the background."

"And why would your presence be needed on their mission?" asked Shikaku all of a sudden.

"They don't need my presence, per se, they just need A presence, just enough to stop certain things from…escalating too fast."

"What things?" insisted Shikaku, wanting all the facts out on the table.

"…The start of another war in the future," she said finally. "That team's death," she added, shifting her sight to the jonin. "Your death."

The silence that followed pretty much explained just how much more the two now understood her reasons.

"And you shouldn't worry that much about my safety anyway," she continued casually. "If you want to be reassured by the law itself, then you should reread my summoning contract: it is specified that my duties are to be fulfilled under any circumstances. Any." she accentuated. "Be sure that even the possibility of my imminent death was taken into consideration, so I do have some ways to avoid it, even if I might not seem like it. I told you, consider me a summon."

The Hokage still seemed skeptical about it, but the Jonin managed to relax his stance the more she spoke.

"I think it will all be fine if that's the case," he said without worry. "To make it even safer, she should go without her presence being known by the team as well."

"Sorry?"

"Won't the success of the mission be set in stone with that?" he continued. "If you are so sure that your very presence will stop impending doom and that you'll be fine on your own, then why shouldn't we cut out all risks? I'm positive the team will take it upon them to protect you, were you with them, thus increasing the possibility of them getting hurt." He swiftly switched his weight to his other leg, sitting now farther away from her. "Don't you agree?"

"…I would if it was doable," she said without a doubt. "As it is now, though, I doubt I can follow them so closely without being discovered in the en-"

"Then we cannot count on your stealth skills after all," he interrupted. "How are you to avoid enemy troops if you do not have the necessary skills to do that? You could even lead the enemy directly to the team by mistakenly thinking you're unseen."

She clenched her jaws at that. _'This guy is up to get me.'_ She looked at Shikaku with scrutiny, not letting her thoughts easily read through her eyes. _'But he does have a point.'_

"Then what do you suggest?" she asked, not wanting to give up the least bit.

Shikaku straightened slightly from his slump and looked straight at her.

"An escort mission," he mentioned shortly, explaining his whole idea in three measly words. "The team will supposedly be tasked with escorting you to your destination. It would be an advantage even, seeing how they'll have an excuse for suddenly wandering into others' territories. We'll give you the identity of a civilian with a lot of influence, one that troops cannot kill easily."

"How-"

"We have one already set for cases like these," the Jonin said, not saying how many cases were actually solved this way in the past. "But let's not talk of details. Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi stood still in his chair, trying to see the best possible solution to the problem.

"It is indeed too risky for you to go undetected, Rena-san," started the Hokage. "I must say, though, that Shikaku's idea does help with some of the issues we might have had when writing the reports."

"…Fine then. Any way is better than no way," she said in the end, already tired of all the discussions. She sighed heavily, putting a hand through her hair and scratching at the scalp. "Now can we talk of the details?"

* * *

The way the door opened and shut announced him of her arrival. It was later than expected, but it was bound for it to take up more time in her case. She was dragging her feet on the floor to the bathroom it seemed. He was waiting for the sound of the shower to be heard, but he heard nothing of the sort.

An entire hour had passed since she'd entered the bathroom and he had yet to hear any noise coming from there. It was making him anxious - it was unusual for her to be so silent for such a long time when awake.

He had to check. There were only a few options as to why she had gone so quiet all of a sudden, but he could only conjure up the most horrible ones. His vivid imagination was, yet again, stopping him from fulfilling his duty properly.

He was right next to the bathroom door by now. He would have stopped at the window, but he had to make sure there was at least some noise coming from there. There wasn't.

'' _What if she's fallen asleep?'_ he asked himself. _'What if she's passed out?'_

There was only one way to find out. After making sure he wouldn't be interrupting anything, he knocked on the door. Nothing. After knocking a second time and not getting an answer, he finally decided to open the door. He almost had a heart attack when he did.

There she was, staring emptily at the open air, seated on the floor, with her back to the bathtub. She wasn't even moving. He had to strain to hear her breathe.

"Moyoshi-san?" he asked in a quiet voice, afraid to go any higher in such a silence.

She didn't move for a while and he was about to make sure she was still alive, but the moment he decided to move, she lifted her gaze to his mask, now emptily gazing at him.

"I think I did quite the stupid thing, ANBU-san," she said in a quiet voice, all unmoving except her lips.

"It was necessary, yes," she continued, now letting her head fall on her shoulder weightlessly, "but so stupid at the same time." He didn't say anything at that. He couldn't, really. He knew what she was talking about and she couldn't have been more right about it. He was missing some pieces, though: she was too tough a person to react like that just to putting herself in danger.

"I didn't want to make it my responsibility," she explained, unknowingly reading his thoughts. "I mean, I know it is my duty to make sure none of those horrid things happen to you, but I didn't want to be the center piece." Even her usual voice, full of vibrancy, was now empty of an inflection. She stared at his face, not knowing she was staring him right in the eyes. "You see, if the center piece fails, then it all crumbles to a hateful end...I have to prepare myself for that as well, don't I?"

He looked at her one last time, taking in the exact way she was now sitting, moving, talking. After making sure every detail was engraved in his mind, he stepped forward and leaned down to lift her in his arms.

"Time to sleep, Moyoshi-san," he muttered to the head now resting on his shoulder. He took her to her bedroom and placed the tired body of hers on the bed. He took her shoes off and tucked her in, pressing a bit of chakra to the back of her neck to make sure she would have a restful sleep.

"You've got a long day tomorrow."

* * *

Done! Hope you enjoyed it. Please review if you have any particular thoughts on this story – I'd love some feedback on it! Till next time.


	7. Chapter 7 - Trippy Trip

~Chapter 7~

Trippy trip

She listened to the smooth gliding of the fabric against her skin. Silk did that at times – becoming like a breeze in both sound and form. Her appreciation of the clothing was empty of any feeling, though, as each pin brought her closer to the moment she was to change…something.

She still had no idea what exactly she was supposed to change. Saving lives? Sure, that part was quite important. Too bad she was supposed to save the world at the same time.

"You're all ready, Moyoshi-san." She didn't like the smile plastered on that woman's face. Like there was actual beauty in the world. It was obviously fake, though. You couldn't really smile during war – it didn't suit the atmosphere.

"Thank you." Rena was no stranger to falsely-shown contentment either.

The mirror in front of her could barely contain the entire pattern of her kimono, whose multiple layers did nothing to make her dandy in appearance.

' _Might as well wear armor for all this weight on me.'_

She pinched the outer layers of her dress, lifting it to allow her feet some room for movement. She stopped mid-motion, though.

"Are you sure this will work? I don't see enemies biting this whole charade we're trying out. Who in their right mind will walk so many miles in this kind of clothing?"

"More people than you'd care to know," answered a voice from outside the room. "You don't have to run those miles in it. This will be your disguise once you reach the border with Grass."

"Is it even plausible? A noblewoman walking straight through a war zone just because she fancied visiting someone?" She clicked her wooden shoes to the door, failing to hold her balance as she did so.

"Civilians don't really care for the war, Moyoshi-san." The door opened further, revealing the black-haired Jounin Commander slumping in a chair near it. "The rare ones that do are definitely not among nobility."

"I'm sure that's not true, Nara-san. You make it seem like shinobi and civilians are two different entities living in separate worlds, theory which is denied by my mere involvement in this."

"But you're a special case, aren't you, Moyoshi-san?"

"Perhaps," She threw the shoes in a corner, going on barefoot as she approached the chairs in the waiting room. "But I'm no shinobi either."

"You're more of a shinobi than you think." She glanced at his profile briefly, curious at the way his eyes caught the light. It might've sounded like a compliment, but his gaze told a different story.

"Well, I'll definitely be testing my supposed abilities as one and rather soon as well," she sat, bunching layers of material in her hands. "Any advice?"

He smiled a bit at that, but otherwise said nothing. They both stood in silence for a while, waiting for the sun to come up. When the sky got warm at the margins, she got up, turning towards him in question.

"Well?"

"Make it worth it."

She stared at him and past him, nodding once after giving it a thought.

"How will you know it was worth it in the end?"

"Hm, don't kid yourself, Moyoshi-san," he chuckled, walking away. "You'll spell it out for me as soon as I see you."

* * *

"Sensei, what are we waiting for?" asked Obito, on the verge of losing his patience from too much excitement. "The sooner we go, the better!"

"The mission's parameters got changed the last minute," explained Minato, his eyes following every figure heading towards the gate. "It seems we'll do a pretend escort mission as a cover up instead."

"Escort mission? Who are we going to escort, Sensei?" Rin seemed confused, both at the news and at the way Minato's eyebrows scrunched slightly.

"It wasn't mentioned in the report, but I have a bad feeling about this." He really hoped the redhead that was heading their way was simply doing some shopping…near the village entrance.

"Oh, good morning, Rena-san!" greeted Obito, violently waving his hand at her.

"Good morning, guys," she smiled pleasantly, stopping in front of them. A filled up bag was tugging at her shoulders.

Kakashi stared dispassionately at her and simply turned towards their team leader.

"No."

"Ah, sorry, Kakashi-kun," the flustered blonde answered to his unspoken words. "I'm afraid it's out of my hands."

"What is out of your hands?" the clueless Uchiha inquired.

"Oh," muttered Rin, her confusion growing at the situation.

"I'm coming with you," stated the woman before them. "I'll be the lovely princess you are to escort," said Rena, tucking her hair behind her ear with arrogant timing.

"We're screwed."

"Hey! I'm doing you a favor in here!"

"I don't see how you coming on the mission with us will make it any easier. You'll just be in the way."

"Maybe that's the purpose," she answered truthfully.

"Yesss! Rena-san's coming as well!"

"Dumbass, don't you know where we're going?" sneered Kakashi, having stopped his teammate's excited movements with a well-aimed punch to the head.

"Isn't it dangerous for her, Sensei?" intervened a worried Rin.

"…It is. Orders are orders, though," concluded the blonde, even though he himself wasn't happy with the new arrangements. "Let's go then."

The four shinobi took a standard formation around Rena, protecting the client and the medic in case of attack. Minato lead the way, while Kakashi and Obito bickered in the back, taking the rear behind the two girls.

"What role will you assume, Moyoshi-san?" asked the Jounin, barely turning his head towards her.

' _We're back to Moyoshi-san, huh?'_

"Daughter of Takigagure's Daimyo. Off to marry the second son of the Earth Daimyo."

He turned at that.

"Are you sure that's usable? We're at war with Iwa. I'm sure they'd be aware of any political movement of the sort."

"Don't worry, the marriage is already somewhat planned by both sides. The only thing Iwa isn't aware of is what the bride looks like," she said, smiling at his bemused expression. "Even the formal kimono Shikaku's thrown at me is full of traditional patterns from that area."

"The only thing that remains is the reason as to why you were escorted by Konoha shinobi if you are intent on forming an alliance with Iwa," said Kakashi, suddenly paying attention to the conversation.

"Oh, but who says you are Konoha shinobi, though?"

"What?"

"A genjutsu would be enough to make that squiggly line on your hitai-ate similar to the one from Takigagure. All I hope is that Iwa shinobi aren't aware of who you are just by your appearance."

"…"

"Guys?"

"They might have an idea about sensei," said Rin. "He's been in their Bingo book for quite a while."

Rena threw an exasperated glance at said Jounin. "What? You're already famous?"

"'Already'?"

"Ugh, never mind. We might not even need the damn cover if everything goes right."

' _Which it won't.'_

They continued on for a while, the silence between them rarely disturbed. As they were passing the hidden valley of some green fields, Minato stopped them to rest, taking out a map as they were prepping lunch.

"We are to pass the border with Kusagagure in a couple of miles. The village has already been invaded by Iwa nin, so there is a high chance there will be several ambushes along the way." He moved his finger along the border, stopping at a roughly-sketched bridge near their location.

"Our mission is to infiltrate their defense and destroy their supply line that goes over this bridge." He lifted his head and looked at his team. "Since we now have two Jounin on our team, we'll split into two groups. Kakashi," he turned towards the grey-haired teen, "you'll lead the rest towards the bridge and continue with the mission. I'll head towards the war zone to deflect any possible wave coming towards you."

Kakashi nodded solemnly, although he wasn't even slightly content with the plan. "What about Rena-san, sensei? Will she take part in taking it down?"

"I'll be your cover in case there's any Iwa-nin coming your way," she stated simply, her posture relaxed and her gaze confident. _'I am so going to regret this later on.'_

"We're set then." The blonde got up and briefly searched his pouch for something. A moment later, he was handing one of his triple-prong kunai to the newly-instated Jounin. "It's a graduation present, so to speak," he laughed. "Use it when you need me and I'll be there."

The smiling Rin started searching her bag as well, revealing a neatly packed medical pouch.

"Here's mine." Kakashi thanked her for it, all the while listening to how exactly she'd packed it this time round. Rena could see how uncomfortable Obito had become with the whole situation. It also didn't take a genius to guess how he was about to cover it all up and she wasn't about to stand another scuffle between the two.

"Come here, you," she said and trapped poor Kakashi in a suffocating hug.

"Ugh, get off me." His protests fell on deaf ears.

"Oh, are you embarrassed, you grumpy little prick? Come he-argh!" The sudden absence of the body she had been cuddling with made her fall face down in a painful heap of limbs.

"No hugging from now on," muttered Kakashi as he was coming back from up the hill.

"Well, no making me face plant from now on either," she grumbled, trying to get the dirt off her clothes. "Anyway, my and Obito's present still needs some polishing, so I thought I'll give you a nice replacement for now." She smiled widely at grey-haired teen, who was making minute steps to hide behind his sensei. Obito barely registered what she had said, but when he did, she stepped on his toes rather violently, making him yelp and forget his words.

"Oops, seems I'm still dizzy from the fall."

"Sure you are…"

She glanced back at Minato, who was following their antics with a smile on his face.

' _Probably enjoying the little peace they have left.'_

"Well, 'sensei'?" She asked humorously. "Shall we start on our way?"

Minato blushed a bit, flustered at the nickname, but nodded nonetheless. "We'll meet here as soon as you're done. Kakashi, you're in command. Rin, Obito, I trust you to protect Rena-san well."

"Stop worrying about us and just go," Rena ushered him. "You better just worry about yourself and take care not to get hurt."

Minato smiled at his team and nodded in understanding before jumping away in the opposite direction they were heading.

The four just stood there for a few seconds, taking in how it felt in the absence of their leader.

"Kakashi-kun, can I hold that kunai for now?" said Rena, looking at the weapon Minato had given his student.

"Why?"

"In case some shinobi might go past you and attack me. Plus, I feel we'll use it later on and I'll probably be the only one free enough to do so."

Kakashi stared at her in suspicion, but handed her the kunai either way.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back," she said, patting him on the head. She took her hand away before he managed to slap it.

"We'll be using your cover to avoid any possible ambush. Rin, Obito, cast a genjutsu on your hitai-ate." The three of them started doing the proper hand signs, the only weird thing being that when they stopped, nothing happened.

"…Did you put it on already?"

"What? Yes," answered Obito, checking his teammates' headbands. "We all have it."

"It's possible that you aren't affected by it," commented Rin with a far-off look on her face. "Your lack of chakra should make it impossible for others to put you under a genjutsu, since there's no energy to disrupt."

"Lack of chakra? Wait, wha-".

"Well, isn't that nice? Although I don't know how useful it'll be for you guys."

"Huh? How come?"

"I wouldn't even know whether you are caught in a genjutsu or not, since I can't even sense them. The only time this could come in handy is when you ask me what I see."

"I doubt we'll need your help, Rena-san," spoke Kakashi all of a sudden. "The type of genjutsu you are referring to is the easiest to get out of."

"Just in case, then, sheesh." She stared at them a while, thinking of any gaps in the plan she might have missed.

' _Our cover will be blown, with or without headbands, if they recognize Rin.'_

"You might want to do something about your appearance as well. Just in case."

"Well, it's not a Henge," mumbled Kakashi. "I guess a couple details could be covered."

She saw them going through the signs yet again, not seeing what changes were made. The look of confusion on her face gave her away.

"I erased my cheek marks, made my hair blonde and made my eyes blue, Obito's lightened his hair a bit and Kakashi's changed his to a dull brown," Rin commented, looking at her teammates putting away any other telltale objects - Kakashi's missing straps from his sword made him look even more like a kid, but she wouldn't have said that outloud. Ever.

"I'll go change now." Rena stomped over the hill near them, searching for a place remote enough to keep her privacy. "Don't even move until I've told you I'm ready!"

The three remained at the base of it, heeding her words in silence.

…

"…Wait, what do you mean 'lack of chakra'?"

"You're so slow, dumbass."

"Hey! I'm no dumbass, you bastard! Plus, I've felt her chakra before."

"She's sort of a special case, Obito-kun," spoke Rin, stepping in before things escalated. "She has no chakra to speak of and the one you've felt was probably planted so that she seems normal."

"But…how?"

"Ah, I wish I knew," sighed Rin. "She's full of secrets, our Rena-san."

The three waited at the bottom of the valley for a while, until a tiny voice could be heard from where Rena had gone to change.

"Um, Rin-chan? Could you come here for a bit? I think I messed up the order."

Kakashi resisted the urge to facepalm while Rin hurried over the hill to help the redhead with her obi. A few minutes later and a newly-dressed Rena showed up, walking stiffly to the boys who were trying to hold their laugh. Well, metaphorically speaking, since Obito was doing anything but and Kakashi really didn't need to try that hard to hide his smile with that damn mask on.

"Hah, your walk!" Obito could barely gasp those words out before he was taken over by another fit of laughter. Kakashi's amusement had faded into despair, though.

"How will anyone believe you to be nobility? You'll ruin our cover before we even start it."

"Oh, don't worry your grumpy ass with this. I can be very convincing when needed," she answered whilst roughly grabbing at the extra material. "Now isn't needed, though."

She tried folding it to make room for at least some movement, but it just wouldn't budge.

"Gah, where did I put that kunai?"

"Wha – Rena-san!" Not even Rin's cry could stop Rena's vicious attack on those titan layers. She sliced the sides that weren't visible, freeing her legs and damning the piece of clothing at the same time.

"That's…expensive," muttered Rin, not really able to look away from the slaughter.

"It won't be worn by anyone other than kunoichi anyway. They will definitely appreciate the little twist," spoke Rena, proud of her work. "And it's a damn mission during war. I can just say a rowdy enemy attacked and did it for me."

"Even the enemies have more fashion sense than you," Kakashi mumbled, putting his two cents in the foreign-type of conversation.

"Shouldn't we go on our way, 'Captain'?" said Rena, ignoring his words. "We do have a damn bridge to ruin today."

Kakashi just turned around and walked straight ahead, not waiting for the scrambling others behind him.

* * *

"It smells weird in here," whispered Rena, trying to discern whatever she was walking on.

"The longer the war, the weirder the smells get," said Obito wisely.

"…That makes no sense."

"Yes, it does!"

"Actually, it does in some way. The more creatures die and the more diverse the poisons become, the more the chemical reactions in nature morph into something else."

"R-right. Same thing I was trying to s-"

"Look out!"

Rena's arm was forcefully pulled to the side, making her lose her footing. Just in time, as well, since all it took was for her to open her eyes to see how many kunai would have pierced her otherwise.

"Come on," whispered Rin, dragging her to her feet before she could think. The three teens were all fully focused on the darkness before them. Kakashi shifted his head slightly, the dim light catching the way he was moving his nostrils as to pinpoint the danger by the smell.

"Show yourself!" screamed Obito, clutching a kunai in his hands.

"Oh, the kid's got spunk," a voice rang from up in the canopy. At least that's where Rena heard it coming from. The rest were confused, she saw.

' _Genjutsu.'_

"Up," she tried to whisper to Rin, right before they had to duck as a single kunai made its way towards their faces.

"Brave of you to move, darling," said the not so suave man coming from around the trunk of a tree.

She barely spared him a glance before losing her ability to breathe. The Iwa-nin before her was triggering a series of thoughts and messed up scenarios that she had no desire to dwindle on. She should be thinking of a solution to this.

' _Asolutionasolutionasolutionasolu-'_

"Ah, there you were, shinobi-san," Rena said suddenly, exhaling loudly. She stepped away from Rin and continued towards the Iwa-nin whilst reaching the inside of her sleeve. The ninja before her tensed at her movements, a kunai now in his hands.

She paid him no mind as she let a relieved sigh the second she touched the surface of the scroll.

"I think documentation is in order," she said simply, giving him the scroll with an almost practiced ease.

"Open it and throw it on the ground," he growled, still not willing to move any further.

"How barbaric," Rena muttered and did as he said.

The thin parchment rolled to his feet, revealing a signature he could have recognized in his sleep.

"The Tsuchikage?" he whispered, eyes widened. He picked up the scroll and did the standards signs to rid the document of any chakra that might have concealed a fake. When nothing happened, he lifted his gaze to the woman, only then noting the motifs sewn on her clothing. His eyes widened further.

"Your Highness," he said, bending at his waist enough to reach the ground.

Her eyebrow twitched minutely in surprise. _'Didn't think it would work.'_

"Are you part of the convoy that was supposed to lead us the village?" Kakashi asked all of a sudden, offering a plot for Rena to work with.

"No, I'm not," he answered, frowning. "Neither I nor my teammates have any knowledge of any convoy that is supposed to pass this area." He looked at the scroll in his hands, staring yet again at the signatures to make sure they were real.

"W-we weren't supposed to meet in this area," spoke Rin with a tremor in her voice. "The meeting point was miles from here, but the group never arrived."

"The convoy didn't arrive? How much time has passed since your supposed meeting point?" he asked all of sudden.

"A-about five hours," answered Rin, the fear in her voice well placed to make the matters true.

"Why? What do you know?" Kakashi asked.

"A Konoha team was expected around this area today," he said, his eyes darting around with worry. She could almost feel the three tensing behind her.

"We haven't met either team," replied Kakashi . The silence that followed was self-explanatory.

"I'll have to consult my team on this matter. Please continue on your way. This area is under our jurisdiction."

' _Your jurisdiction, my ass.'_

The Iwa-nin made no further comment and, after returning their scroll, departed at top speed.

The four of them stood dumbstruck in the middle of the forest, letting the adrenaline wear off little by little.

"Should we take the long road to the bridge? Now we definitely know there's an enemy team up ahead."

"They will definitely suspect us then. Even more so, with a 'Konoha' team on the run," replied Rena.

"They aren't supposed to know of our mission," said Kakashi quietly, voicing what they were all thinking.

"There's a quick answer to that, really," answered Rena. "It can't be much different to how we obtained our own cover story."

"A mole," exhaled Rin, dreading the implication of her own answer. "But with what clearance? They must have someone planted in the … Oh."

"Yep, that's pretty much it," said the redhead, stretching her back. "But that's something we'll worry about when we get back."

They went on straight towards the bridge, seemingly relaxed but with thoughts running miles a minute and with slight twitches of their fingers at every sound. That didn't last long, in the end.

Maybe it was the familiarity of the Iwa-nin's chakra that gave him away, but the three teens tensed all of a sudden, making Rena stop in her tracks.

"The Iwa shinobi's back," whispered Kakashi. His nose twitched. "And he brought his team with him this time."

Their hands drew closer to their weapon pouches while they moved slowly to surround Rena from all sides. When three bodies blurred mere feet away from them, Rena almost jolted out of her skin while her three guards drew kunai without a sound.

"Nice of you to wait for us," the one in the front said, clearly the others' leader. He looked at each of them carefully, measuring them up with his dark, beady eyes. His eyebrows bunched at the sight.

"You sure this is the team?" he asked one of his teammates, gesturing towards the nin they had already met before.

"There's no other, Captain."

"Has the convoy issue been solved?" asked Rena, straightening her back in the process.

"There was no co-" tried one of them to say, but was stopped in his tracks by their team leader with the raise of his hand. That same hand went to his ear, pressing a button.

"You specified brown hair as a trait," he talked lowly into the receiver, drawing confused glances from Rena and the team. The answer that came made his eyes alternate between the two girls before him. "Understood." What followed was complete chaos.

The Iwa-nin attacked them without notice, the Captain visibly aiming for the girls while his teammates blocked any attempt Kakashi and Obito might have made at stopping that. Rena stumbled backwards, pushed by Rin in an attempt to let her handle the man twice her size. The kunoichi was barely fast enough to avoid the punches of the enemy and it was quite obvious the fast pace was tiring her up. Her hand was alight with chakra, but with no use. Rena decided then to intervene.

' _Just a tiny bit to the right,_ ' she thought, willing the left side of the nin's armour to stop its movement, leaving a wide opening to the chakra scalpel Rin thrusted in his armpit. The man grunted in pain, staggering on his feet from the hit. He was now eyeing Rin with wariness, the new set to his jaw speaking of his determination. He somehow willed his almost useless left arm to lift into an indistinguishable set of signs making disappear all of a sudden.

' _W-what?'_

Rin retreated to Rena's side, her kunai in front of her. "Where is he?"

"I-I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't think it was genjutsu. He must have messed with the light," whispered the redhead, her heart beating furiously.

"How right you are," a voice said from right behind her and then it all went black.

* * *

"…-ither match the description," a voice could be heard, talking furiously without an answer to be heard. Silence followed, broken only by hurried steps being taken mere feet from her. She kept her eyes closed, keeping the façade of her still being passed out. That didn't take much effort, though, since her head felt like it was about to implode and any minute movement made her sick.

"No, no brunette and both look in their early teens."

' _Wow, thanks.'_

"The kunoichi?" the man whispered almost to himself. She almost stopped breathing when she heard him walking towards her. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he stopped a few feet to her left. She dared to crack her lids open, seeing the exact moment the Iwa nin managed to disable Rin's genjutsu, who had yet to wake up.

"Huh, we got her," said the smug ninja in the ear transmitter.

' _Shit.'_

She managed to close her eyes right before the man turned to her, an order sounding in his ear.

"Shouldn't we keep her as spare?" he questioned. The sudden buzz that answered his question meant someone was strongly disagreeing with him.

"Y-yes, ma'am," the nin stuttered, bowing to thin air. "I'll dispose of her immediately."

'… _Well. Double shit.'_

* * *

...Hey. Sorry for disappearing. Um, got no explanation for that. I'm back now, though :) Please review if you feel like it.

P.S.: Only Rena is mine.


End file.
